Fashion – Photographer Ross James – Website www.RossJamesPhotography.com

LOCATION:  Korean Pagoda in Seattle, WA USA

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D300 with Nikkor 28mm f/2.8. Settings were 3 seconds, f2.8, ISO 200. Since I wanted to add an abstract element of ambient lights from the surroundings I needed a long shutter to paint the light shapes. I also wanted these lights to have a soft, blurred edge so I choose the lens’ largest aperture.

LIGHTING: Camera right I had two Nikon SB800’s in one 54″ Wescott Halo and far back camera left an Alienbees AB800 as a backlight.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I like this shot a lot. It shows the kind of dark mood that I was shooting for. But I also like this image because of all of the technicalities involved in creating it. The shot had to happen in near darkness so that the pagoda and the model jumping in mid air were capture sharply by the flash. I wanted an f-stop of 2.8 so the focus was very crucial and with the model taking a few steps and jumping in the dark there was some guess-work on both our parts to maintain the focus distance. Then immediately after the flash fired I had less than 3 seconds to turn the camera to my side towards the ambient street lights more than 50 yards away and blindly shake and move the camera around hoping to paint shapes on the frame without covering up too much of the model. All of this at 3:30am at 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

POST PRODUCTION: In post I touched up the hair. The hair stylist, Heather Nichols, had very limited time to make the concept happen and we knew we would be relying on photoshop to polish up the “hair cones”. Then I cleaned up some bird poop on the railing, selectively adjusted the color of the fog at the top created by ambient light from green/yellow to red, and applied some lens correction.

Fashion – Photographer Brett Harkness – Website www.brettharknessphotography.com

LOCATION: This image was taken during our overnight workshop on the woods in York. It was the last shot at around 9.30pm just as we were losing the light. We found this small clearing in the woods and thought it would be a great final scene to end the first day. With our model draped in “vintage chique” petticoats from a great company called Love Miss Daisy we set up the shot. The whole group was standing knee deep in water to get this shot. The reflection was very important to the success of the shot and I love the way that Natasha, our very hardy model is staring directly at the camera. We shot some images without the stick but I found that this prop gave her a ” swamp witch” like appearance. I mean that in a nice way!

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1DS Mark III, 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM II, 400ISO 100th sec @f8

LIGHTING: Elinchrom Ranger packs x2, 1 135 OCTA box ( main light on 1/2 power) 1 naked light to the rear to light the tree. We also used a handful of small smoke bombs to give us a little mystery in the shot.

CREATIVE PROCESS: We started off shooting facing to the right, as the shoot developed I spotted this fallen tree over in the corner. The shot immediately came to mind and within 5 mins we had it nailed!!

POST PRODUCTION: I was shooting jpg here so try and get the shot right in camera as near as I can. A little colour tweak and contrast and that was about it!

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Leicestershire, United Kingdom

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 16-35 2.8 L II

LIGHTING: Three Canon Speedlites. One on-camera as a master unit and two on the band’s speakers as slaves. The room was full of daylight coming through a huge floor to ceiling window on camera right. I wanted the photo to look like it was night time so I used a small aperture of F22 to overpower the ambient. The speedlites did a great job though they were screaming at me!

CREATIVE PROCESS: I loved the lines in the ceiling and wanted to show this off with a low angle and a wide angle lens set at 16mm. I also love the expression on the bride’s face and how everybody else in the photo is so concentrated on this once in a life time moment. The flash just adds awesome rim lighting to the bride and groom and also highlights the guests.

POST PRODUCTION: I used a Crash-Art black and white action and added some tonal contrast to make it pop in Photoshop CS4.

Fine Art – Photographer Trevor Yerbury – Website www.yerburystudio.com

LOCATION: This image was created on one of our Art Nude workshops. The venue was very near to our studio just outside of Edinburgh, a deserted wood with plenty of opportunities to create some exciting images. We were working with Christiane, our model for the day, and I decided to venture further into the wood so left Faye and our delegates and went looking for other options. I eventually came across this fallen tree which I immediately visualised with a nude either lying on her back or preferably, if she was willing, on her front. I walked back to the group and told them of my discovery the only problem once we arrived at the tree was persuading Christiane to lie, on her stomach on the branch of a rotting decaying tree infested with goodness knows what. Of course Christiane being Christiane needed no persuading though we knew this would be the last shot of the day as the tree would mark her body quite badly. Once into the pre discussed position the image was fairly easy to capture and required only minimal body adjustment.

CAMERA & LENS: D700 + 85mm, only digital camera and lens that I own. Exposure 125th 4.5 manual.

LIGHTING: God’s own assisted by Faye reflecting some light back in from the left side of the image.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I can always pre visualise the final image and this was no exception. The human figure when set is such natural surroundings will always create an interesting image it is just a question of how you place the figure within that environment.

POST PRODUCTION: Very little as always. Converted the file to black and white and simply added a bit of tone to replicate the effect I used to get when I printed onto Kodak Ektalure paper.

Fashion – Photographer Jay McLaughlin – Website www.jmphotographer.com

LOCATION: My Studio, Buckinghamshire, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L

LIGHTING: 400w Elinchrom D-Lite-4 head with silver beauty dish above on camera left

CREATIVE PROCESS: Rock chick themed set. High contrast lighting to give strong lights and darks and then sat against the back of the backdrop to create shadows behind her.

POST PRODUCTION: Black & White conversion in Lightroom, skin retouching in Photoshop CS3…. I should really get rid of the white mark on her shoe… it bugs me!

Fashion – Photographer Jay McLaughlin – Website www.jmphotographer.com

LOCATION: My Studio, Buckinghamshire, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L

LIGHTING: 400w Elinchrom D-Lite-4 head with large softbox above on camera left

CREATIVE PROCESS: Retro look inspired by flower hair piece on her head. Soft lighting to help with the 60s/70s feel.

POST PRODUCTION: Retro colour treatment in Lightroom, with skin retouching in Photoshop.

Fashion – Photographer Karl Taylor – Website www.karltaylor.co.uk

LOCATION: Karl Taylor Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Hasselblad H2, 80mm Lens.

LIGHTING: 1 Elinchrom 1200RX with Beauty Dish, 1 Elinchrom 1200RX with background reflector dish.

CREATIVE PROCESS: For this image I wanted to capture a beautiful model in an unconventional way. I had been toying with the idea in my mind for a shot of a girl slipping on a banana skin whilst carrying drinks, however I ditched the idea of the banana in favour of a more explosive looking image. The shot was achieved with just two studio lights and some large white polyboards and a crash mat. It took several attempts to get the jump right and capture the expression. The model Emma did a fantastic job and was very professional, repeating the jump over and over until I was happy with the pose. The silky dress was chosen for it’s “ripple in the wind” quality and the drinks were shot separately under the same lighting set up. It was all filmed for my Fashion & Beauty DVD and you can see the trailer on my website for more info. I love the feel of the shot and the subtlety of tonal range in the background and shadow.

POST PRODUCTION: The models image is pretty much as is, I then removed the crash mat from the scene and photographed the empty scene for the background. I then photographed two separate flying drink shots which my assistant threw in the air several times until I got the right spread of liquid. I comped the drinks into the main shot and defocused the foreground drink to add some depth to the image. and also added the shadow on the floor by drawing in an outline in Photoshop and filling with grey and building up several blurred and reduced opacity layers.

Note from Crash – Karl’s DVD’s are excellent and highly recommended. Check them out here: Fashion and Beauty DVD

Fashion – Photographer Karl Taylor – Website www.karltaylor.co.uk

LOCATION: Karl Taylor Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Hasselblad H2, 80mm Lens.

LIGHTING: 4 Elinchrom lights, 1 with a Recta Softbox top back left and 3 other lights with honeycomb grids in various thicknesses to pinpoint  the light to where I  needed it.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This image was for a regular client of mine who manufacture bespoke furniture. The basically told me to make this chair look sexy! The trick here was to not let the model overpower the product shot so I placed her further back to give the chair more promenance at the front. Using the honeycomb grids I highlighted several areas of the chair to add mood and show off the richness of the wood. I tried to keep the lighting on the model more subtle and mysterious to help enhance the sexy feel to the shot. It took a little bit of time to identify the best pose but this was my favourite as the model is looking towards where the client logo and copy were to be placed in the final ad.

POST PRODUCTION: Post Production was limted to a little bit of cleaning up on the floor and extending the background out the left a little. Other than that there was only a little bit of Photoshop dodging and burning on the model and chair.

Portraits – Photographer Julia Boggio – Website www.juliaboggiophotography.com

LOCATION: Julia Boggio Studios, Wimbledon, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mk II with 24-70mm lens set to ISO 100 f/
13 at 1/160th.

LIGHTING: Broncolor Para 170 FB and Broncolor Pulso G 1600J head with
Pulsoflex C soft box attached

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was working on the portfolio for my new photography studio and was playing with the idea of shooting children as famous icons. My make-up artist’s son had long brown hair and I thought he’d make a great little Elvis. His parents even subjected him to Elvis videos on You Tube to help him perfect the King’s lip curl. I liked the idea of putting our little Elvis in front of the Union Jack, even though Elvis is an American icon. I’m an American in the UK, too, after all!

POST PRODUCTION: We removed a door from the flag because the flag is actually a bit of wallpaper in our studio and there is a big door that leads into our post-production area on the left side. I also added in some blur to bring focus to Elvis and then added grain to the whole image.

Portraits – Photographer Frank Doorhof – Website www.frankdoorhof.com

LOCATION: My studio in Emmeloord.

CAMERA AND LENS: Phase One DF with Leaf AptusII7 digital back

LIGHTING: One Elinchrom RX600 with reflector and grid and one strip light as fill in light to open up the shadows just a bit. The lamp was a gift from my parents for use in the studio and contains high wattage tungsten bulbs so we have lots of light when mixing it with strobes.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This one had some planning, we were planning for some time to do a session with clowns and a circus look in the studio, as you can see the session went another direction. I think that’s the good thing from free work, although you have a plan you can always expand on that plan and continue to build. In this case we build to something much more extreme than planned simply because our model could carry the expressions I wanted, in cases like this I can be very picky in what I choose, the shot has to be just the way I want, and to be honest two days later I will always see something I would have changed

POST PRODUCTION: Was mainly changing the colors and adding a sharpening layer, as mentioned with the other shots I see Photoshop as icing on the cake and use it mostly to finish what I couldn’t do with light or in camera, in this case the more sharpening and the color tone. All shots are always minor in Photoshop; my rule of thumb is often that one should not need more than 5-10 minutes in Photoshop.

Street – Photographer Crash Taylor - Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 24-105 f4 L IS

LIGHTING: Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was walking back to the car after shopping with my family and saw this awesome ruined hotel. I loved the textures and colours but it was missing something. It definitely needed something else to finish it off. I had a problem because it was an extremely busy road and it was probably 10 mins before there was a break in the traffic. Just as I was about to pack up, I got a 30 second traffic break and miraculously these 3 people walked right into the my frame and snap, job done.

POST PRODUCTION: I processed the image in Photoshop CS4 using my HDR techniques to give it that high contrast detailed surreal look. It really brings out the textures in the building etc… I muted the colours using curves and added a lens flare. I also added my cinematic yellow film filter action to warm it up a little and finished it off with some 800 ISO film grain.

Fashion – Photographer Frank Doorhof - Website www.frankdoorhof.com

LOCATION: Studio Emmeloord

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D with 70-200 f2.8 IS L

LIGHTING: Elinchrom – I used a beauty dish and two accents plus one strobe on the background.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I love the more “fantasy” side of photography; I’m always looking for something that is more than a posed model with jeans and a top. In this case the cup and saucer looked liked a fantastic addition to her red hair and almost white face. So from this, the idea was born and made to fit thanks to an amazing MUA and model of course.

POST PRODUCTION: As always was rather limited, I strongly believe that a shot should be 100% there when you press the shutter, if not you shouldn’t shoot but change things until it’s perfect. In this image, most of the work was done on the skin to even it out and give it that porcelain look. Most of the look was achieved by the MUA although Photoshop was needed to achieve the final result.

Fashion – Photographer Sarah Johnson  – Website www.sarahlouisephotography.com

LOCATION: Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5d and 24-70mm lens

LIGHTING: I used a large reflector on the background and also one on the model, quite far away from her so the light was nice and soft.

CREATIVE PROCESS: The images were for a story about eco fashion, so I wanted to keep them light and fresh and natural, I did this with lots of light and a nice big amount of light on the background to keep it very bright.

POST PRODUCTION: I played around with the tones on this image to give the denim a slightly weathered hue; I wanted to keep the images soft and clean.

Editorial – Photographer Michael Greenberg – Website www.phototerra.com

LOCATION: Train museum.

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3, 24-70 /2.8 set at about 50mm at f4, ISO 800, WB is set to flash.

LIGHTING: The lighting is a bit complex with total of 4 flashes (sb800) connected with each other wirelessly with TTL mode off. One fill light is coming from the window; the other one is gelled and set to maximum zoom while pointing at the sit next to the model. The third light is bouncing behind my back that creates overall fill. The forth light is also gelled and zoomed to 85mm while pointing at the ceiling where the male model is sitting.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This shot is one from the 6-spread fashion editorial for high-end wedding magazine that is distributed in Montreal and Toronto. The whole idea of the photo shoot was about a girl who travels around the globe to find her prince. One of the beginning shots was her boarding the train an accidentally dropping her suitcase. The suitcase, which we filled with lots of plush toys, opens on impact and the entire rail track is filled with toys. I thought this was a beautiful opening to the story. So, this shot is a continuation of the concept. I put the male model and asked him to observe the bride. I asked the bride to look into the window anxiously to make the whole moment natural and believable. No one is striking a pose and this is what makes this image work in my opinion.

POST PRODUCTION: The postproduction is simple and it is not. In terms of cropping and lighting it was there and I didn’t have to change anything. However I had to retouch her skin and shape her arms just a bit. Saturation boost of +15 was applied. WB was adjusted to cool off the image a bit. I always strive to have my photography as natural as possible. I believe in my photography skills rather than my Photoshop skills.

Portraits – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Crash-Art studio, Nottingham, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D and Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS L

LIGHTING: Natural light coming from a huge window camera right and two small Jessops VL35 video lights set up camera left – to the side and behind the model.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I took this portrait approx 4 years ago when I just started getting back into photography. It’s a simple portrait of a friend and model. It was the last image of the day before packing up. I asked Kaylee to sit on the stairs and give me some attitude which she did perfectly. I love the lines and the colours in the image.

POST PRODUCTION: I saturated the colours in PS and smoothed her skin. That’s it, nice and easy and the whole image including shoot time and retouching took 15 mins.

Sports – Photographer Steve Bonini – Website www.stevebonini.com

LOCATION: This was shot on location in Arizona at a real life, but make shift gym where the hard core go to train.

CAMERA AND LENS: Camera was Canon 1 DS Mark 3 and the lens was the Canon 24-70 2.8. The 24-70 is a lens I use a lot because it can shoot wide as well as portrait perspectives. This was most likely shot at around the 40 mm mark so that the front weight enlarged a little bit, but not so much that the weight lifter shrank away because of the distance from the camera.

LIGHTING: Lighting was simple, and assembled quickly. One Profoto beauty dish with a grid camera right, and for the background, I used a medium soft box off to the left. As always, it’s a balancing act when adjusting light levels, but it came together fast because we knew we were on a schedule.

CREATIVE PROCESS: For me, the ” process ” is a result of many years of shooting as well as just knowing how you want it to end up. In the days of Ansel Adams, it was called pre-visualizing, and I suppose that’s still valid. The great thing today is that you can check your results on a monitor instantaneously to see if you chose a direction that works.

POST PRODUCTION: The post production was handed over to master retouch artist Scott Dorman at Smalldog Image Works based in Atlanta. Scott has worked on a few of these for me, and for the same client, and I love his style. Pretty much, the image was as you see it now, with the exception of adding the words on the weight plus some general beauty moves, which bring the show to life. Scott jokingly calls it his ” kick-ass filter ” and I’d agree a hundred percent!

Portrait – Photographer Rick Wenner – Website www.rickwenner.com

LOCATION: In studio @ Brooklyn Studios – Brooklyn, NY

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 85mm 1.8 set at f/13 ISO 100.

LIGHTING: Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS 1100 in an Elinchrom 39″ Deep Octa, high camera left.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This photo was created during a test shoot with Rachel. I gave the stylists full creative control over one look and here’s what they came up with. I love this image because it almost has an old Hollywood feel to it. My only direction to Rachel for this photo was to keep her eyes to the light and she took care of the rest.

POST PRODUCTION: Adjustments in Lightroom of lowering the saturation rather than greyscale conversion, slight increase in clarity and contrast. Imported into Photoshop CS3 for basic skin retouching and stray hair removal. Little bit of dodging and burning for more contrast.

Fashion – Photographer Rachel Hanel – Website www.rhanelphotography.com

LOCATION: Michigan

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D700 with a 50mm nikor lens

LIGHTING: 1 Travelite 750 watt head with a medium soft box

CREATIVE PROCESS: I love the rawness of this image, and the model’s expression (Maddison Quinn with Ford Chicago), somehow it just all worked together perfectly. We were shooting an editorial out in the woods and we were using a house (generally used during the summer) and it had this awesome velvet couch that I just had to shoot somehow. The suit is a velvet Cavalli piece that just looked great with the couch. Stylist is Beckett McMahan, Hair/makeup by Morgan Blaul.

POST PRODUCTION: I used a color tone on this image (curves layers in Photoshop) and I added a lot of contrast. I love to bring some blue into the shadows and yellow into the highlights, and then add a little cyan for fun. There were a lot of layer masks and a lot of curves layers for this image. I love to manipulate the color manually instead of using a program or plug-in to do it for me. I really love to give each image a unique finish, since no 2 images are the same in tonal range.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Fawsley Hall, Northampton

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and the awesome Canon 16-35mm 2.8 II L

LIGHTING: Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS: This is a image I try to capture at every wedding. It’s definitely not an easy shot and it did take some time to perfect. The bride and groom have no clue. We are walking back to the reception venue after taking some portraits. I’m walking with the camera holding it at ground level and firing away at 16mm. This is one of two exposures out of 10 that captured the moment. I love the angles, the movement in the dress and hair and how their feet are in sync as they walk. It’s different and the bride loved it.

POST PRODUCTION: I ran my cinematic film action which includes a hue/sat layer, a detail enhancer, a blending mode and an advanced blending option as well as some grain to give it that film tone look.

Fashion – Photographer Rachel Hanel – Website www.rhanelphotography.com

LOCATION: Chicago apartment

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D700 with a 50mm nikor lens

LIGHTING: 2 Travelite 750 watt heads, with medium soft boxes, one behind the model and down the hallway, the other behind me and slightly to my right.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This is a great example of an image that just happened by accident. The model (Heather Kuzmich) was in love with the wardrobe stylist’s cat and I decided to humor her and let her do a few images at the end with the cat. They ended up being my favorites from the set. You always have to be ready to go with the flow and capture things as they happen. Stylist is Beckett McMahan, Hair/makeup by Morgan Blaul.

POST PRODUCTION: I didn’t do too much to this image, just basic skin retouching and a bit of a color tone in Photoshop CS3. I love to give my images colorcasts because I feel that it brings a certain separation from reality. It becomes more surreal. I always use multiple layers (I love layer masks) of curves/levels in all of my work.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: London

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L II – Camera was in manual and speedlite on ETTL

LIGHTING: Canon 580 EX II bounced behind me into the roof of Rolls Royce

CREATIVE PROCESS: We were driving through London in the most beautiful vintage cream Rolls Royce, on our way to the reception. I turned around to ask a question when I saw them both looking out the window at the famous Oxford Street. I snapped off a frame and caught this wonderful loving moment between the two of them. It makes me wonder what they are both thinking as they sit holding hands enjoying this magnificent ride through central London.

POST PRODUCTION: I enhanced the details using curves, surface blur and unsharp mask. I added my film effect action to give it that cinematic film look, which I love.  I also added some film grain to the image using a layer filled with grey and then added grain and some Gaussian blur.

Weddings – Photographer Simon Mark Whitton – Website www.smwphotography.co.uk

LOCATION: Leeds, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3s @ F2.8, 1/100 sec, 800 ISO Canon 24-70mm f2.8

LIGHTING: Window light

CREATIVE PROCESS: The makeup artist was late due to the weather (heavy snow) so the Bride got dressed first and then had her makeup done after. There were two mirrors in the room so after shooting the obvious; I started looking for a new ‘angle’ on the scene and the ‘reverse’ shot in the mirror worked for me.

POST PRODUCTION: The original image is a little ‘blown’, but I thought it was worth rescuing it with a little Photoshop work and a bit (OK, extensive) toning etc to give it a more ‘artistic’ feel in keeping with my signature style.

Fashion – Photographer Richard Redleaf – Website www.redleafstudios.ca

LOCATION: Abandoned Farm House. Rural Saskatchewan, Canada.

CAMERA AND LENS: 5D, 50mm f1.2 Lens.  Settings: f1.2 | 1/1600 | ISO 1250

LIGHTING: Available light only

CREATIVE PROCESS: Amy and I shoot with prime lenses, which force us to move around our shooting space. Every image always has multiple angles, and sometime you just need to move around your subject, and you will be surprised at the different looks you can create. This image was again captured using only the available light from a single window in the room. It was shot from a ladder, and we made sure we had her face turned into the light.  We wanted the image to have feeling, and tell a story.

POST PRODUCTION: We capture everything in RAW, and crop in camera.  Tone was created using Red Leaf Actions.

I just wanted to say Richard that I use and love your actions and textures. If you’re looking for a great set of actions to enhance your work these are brilliant. Check them out here www.redleafboutique.com

Portraits – Photographer Stuart Wood – Website www.stuart-wood.com

LOCATION: Dronfield in Derbyshire 22nd February this year in the late afternoon when the light was dying.

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3 30mm lens @ f9

LIGHTING: One Ranger location light to one side

CREATIVE PROCESS: This was a commission for Sunday Express Magazine about people who rely on dogs. Evie has hearing problems and Gem is a trained hearing dog. I wanted to show the deep empathy that the two have for each other. I thought I would use the cold weather to my advantage and isolate the pair together surrounded by the dramatic but hostile environment. For me it worked better than all my expectations when Evie closed her eyes and the dog did too! This only happened for a fleeting moment but it shows perfectly the indomitable bond between them that I was trying to capture. Forming the perfect pyramid shape they look so safe together, like nothing could ever hurt them.

Even though I planned the shot and added to the drama with my location light by making their surroundings darker than the subjects, it still needed that extra input from the pair that for me lifted it from being a simple likeness to saying something so special about what they have together. I am very grateful to the both of them for giving me that. The picture editor later rang me to say that the shot had reduced the magazine editor to tears.

POST PRODUCTION: included darkening the sky and foreground snow slightly

Pictorial – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: 3am under the Arctic sun in Finland

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D, Canon 16-35mm

LIGHTING: Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS: This photograph was taken at 3am under the majestic Arctic sun a few days after my wedding in Finland. I was out fishing with some friends enjoying a beer when this frame appeared in front of my lens. It just summed up the relaxing time I had that night and a moment I will never forget.

A few days ago I was thinking about how important photography is to me. I have a terrible memory, so if I don’t take photos I don’t really remember much. So for me to have my camera with me at all times helps me to remember my daily life.

This image is going to be available as a limited edition print of 20. If you are interested please let me know.

POST PRODUCTION: Only a curves adjustment layer. That is pretty much what the sky and lake looks like under the Arctic sun. Absolutely beautiful.

Fashion – Photographer Amy Redleaf – Website www.redleafstudios.ca

LOCATION: Abandoned Farm House. Rural Saskatchewan, Canada

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D MII, 24mm f1.4 Lens.  Settings: f1.6 | 1/1600 | ISO 1600

LIGHTING: Available light only

CREATIVE PROCESS: This series of images was taken in an old empty house in rural Saskatchewan. We had planned this shoot for a couple weeks, and arranged a model, makeup, a real flower hair piece, various outfits and props. Once all our items came in we planned out the various shots that we wanted to achieve during the shoot. It was a session to stretch our talent and creative abilities. We shoot only with available light and the images from this session really highlight the beauty of natural light. As a husband and wife team we both shoot and often we are taking images at the same moment just different angles. In this case Richard was shooting from above and I was shooting across the record player to the model. The model was amazing to work with, we told her to close her eyes and pretend she was enjoying listening to the music from the old record player.

POST PRODUCTION: We capture everything in RAW, and crop in camera.  Tone was created using Red Leaf Actions.

Fashion – Photographer Hugh O’Malley – Website www.hughomalley.com

LOCATION: The model shots were shot in my studio in Hackney in London and the background components were shot in a car wrecking yard in North London

CAMERA AND LENS: The car parts were shot on film.  The settings for an iso 200 speed film were 1/60 at F5.6.  The best images were then scanned to high res digital. The studio shots were taken on my Nikon D3x with a 105mm lens and a 50mm lens at a speed of 1/125 and F8.0 at iso 100.  The tighter head shots with the 105mm and the wider body shot with the 50mm

LIGHTING: The car parts were shot using natural light and on film. The studio shots were shot with a beauty dish on a 500w head almost directly above the model looking down and another couple of lights (500w flash heads with barn doors) used as rim lights to pull her out of the dark background.  With her head tilted back she got a good amount of light on her eyes but with her head in a normal position you can see we got these very deliberate dark shadows under the eyes which add to the air of mystique.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This project was very much collaboration between me and the hair stylist – Andrew Thomas-Corbett.  We met a couple of times before the shoot to discuss the concept and inspiration.  He was very much inspired by Aleister Crowley’s Thoth book of the Tarot and I have always had a fascination with the Occult so I was very familiar with them.  The drawings on them are very beautiful.  We also liked HR Geiger’s artwork (the artist who did most of the art direction for the Alien movies).  We also looked at Tibetan Mandalas and a few other sources.  We wanted to have an industrial feel, a sort of robotic feel but still maintain something of the organic and we wanted them to be sensual and seductive. We explained the concept clearly to the Model so she would be able to interpret our brief with as much information as possible.  Our makeup was done by Angela Deviatova.

POST PRODUCTION: For the background I took parts of one of the crashed car images and mirrored it 4 ways.  Thus creating a symmetrical mandala effect.  The model and the hair required some basic skin cleaning and cleaning up of frizzy bits but Magda (a lovely Polish girl from Leni’s Model Management)  had great skin to start with so this didn’t require much work except that it had to be done in triplicate.  I normally do final skin work with a dodge and burn on a 50% gray fill layer with blend mode set to ‘Soft Light’.  Then I brush with a white or black brush on a low opacity.

The next part is where it got a bit creative and required lots of masks to reveal and hide certain parts of each figure.  The patterns on the skin were done with a combination of layers with a multiply blend mode and masks revealing the underlying patterns. To burn in the edges and other areas I didn’t want the viewer to be distracted by, I used a channel mixer layer set to ‘Black and White with Red Filter’, set the blending mode to ‘Multiply’, invert the mask and brush back in the areas you want with a white brush on the opacity you require.  A bit complex but it gives you a great degree of control.

Finally when I’m happy, I’ll output the .jpeg and run a sharpen filter on it.  I don’t like to have merged layers in my .psd file while I’m working.  Non-destructive editing is the order of the day. The final series of images were exhibited in a Gallery in Bethnal Green just before Christmas 2009.

Fashion – Photographer Claire Pepper – Website www.clairepepper.co.uk

LOCATION: A location house called “The Perch” In Camberwell, London.

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Lens Canon 50mm f1.8

LIGHTING: Natural light – window is behind her and the light is being bounced back in with a silver reflector held quite close. Camera on a tripod on f1.8 and 1/80th iso 400.

CREATIVE PROCESS: The theme of the shoot was based around the location - a dusty old house full of vintage props. Generally just wanted a nostalgic wistful feel as if the girl was stuck in this house and time had moved on…. (Most of the other shots from the story were wider shots but I wanted to do a close up as she had such a great face. We really wanted the light to reflect off the feathers and make them glimmer.

POST PRODUCTION: I slightly desaturated the image, put a bit of lens vignetting on, and boosted the contrast slightly. In the original image her hair was reflecting quite blue, so I made a duplicate layer, took the blue out of the bottom layer and erased through just on the hair so as to keep the blue in the rest of the image. (A bit of a lazy method to be honest probably not to be encouraged…!)

Styling by Louisa Daniel

Make up and Hair by Ellie Tobin

Model is Nadia @ Select

Portraits – Photographer Elizabeth Sawdon – Website www.lizzysawdonphotography.com.au

LOCATION: Our family room, in front of our piano.  Port Douglas, Far North Queensland.

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Lens 50mm f/1.2L -  ISO 400, f11, 1/160 I chose the standard focal length because I wanted the portrait to reflect my vision, we were inside and with the 50mm I can be close enough yet leave space around the subject.  There was little room to move, our kitchen bench was right behind me. ISO 400 – good iso for working with off camera flash indoors. I played around with the aperture and the shutter speed when working with the flash; keeping in mind I didn’t want excessive shallow depth of field in the image.

LIGHTING: off camera Canon speedlight 580 EX, triggered with pocket wizards, 1/16 power.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This was quite simply, the first time I had tested out my pocket wizards.  I set the flash up on the light stand; the piano stool was placed conveniently so I invited my children to come sit for a picture.  This portrait of my son Izaak [11] was taken in the minute or so he decided to cooperate with me. While waiting for me to adjust the camera he blew a beautiful bubble and I caught it just in time.  I got him to blow a few more bubbles but the first one was the best.  I love the deadpan expression.  It is vintage Izaak, complete disregard for authority!

POST PRODUCTION: I cloned out the background on the right of frame; the piano keyboard with a magazine resting above it was very distracting.  I preferred the shadow. I then applied a subtle reduced colour action and unsharp mask.

Weddings – Photographer Martha Ramirez – Website www.udsphoto.com

LOCATION: Downtown Miami at a quaint cupcake shop called “Two Girls and a Cupcake”.

CAMERA AND LENS: The equipment I used was my baby, the Nikon D3 with a 24-70mm .My Settings were 1/200s iso: 400 Focal length:  32.0mm     and f-stop f/13.0

LIGHTING: Alien Bee Pro Photoflash B1600 with a 4ft. Paul Buff Soft Box from high above.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This image was conceived mentally a few weeks prior, along with my Art Director. The idea was to go back to an era that was fun and careless. Not knowing what the model would look like, or if the idea would even work, we scouted locations, shopped and borrowed props, in hopes that it would all come together.  It turns out the model could not have been more perfect! The skates fit just right and the make up and hair were exactly what I had envisioned. The end result was the “Retro Chick”. This one is true to my heart, as I spent most of the 80″s on skates.

POST PRODUCTION: Little was done to this image in post. A little vibrancy added to the colors and Viola!

Auto – Photographer James Russell – Website www.russell-photo.com

LOCATION: Cheadle, Cheshire. Just in a garage, not a glamorous studio.

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D 24-105mm lens at 45mm. f16, 1/180 ISO 200. I needed to maximise depth of field and as I wanted the front to dominate, I chose not to use too long a focal length. Max shutter sync speed used to avoid any ambient light from registering.

LIGHTING: 4 Elinchrom monoblocs with soft boxes and black umbrellas, 2 positioned on each side of the car and one with a grid at the front.

CREATIVE PROCESS: My client had given me an open brief and simply wanted me to create a dynamic image. I like simplicity in a photograph and set out to create a minimalist image with a rim lighting effect. The front end is very aggressive with an interesting structure so I decided to concentrate attention on this plus those great headlights. I was originally told I would have as much time as I needed to take the shot, but when I got there I was promptly told I only had one and a half hours! Hardly enough time to light a car but I set to work straight away and managed to complete the assignment. The lights with umbrellas were positioned halfway along the car to light the interior and mirrors. The two lights with soft boxes were placed at the front to give side illumination and pick up all the detail at the front, in particular the area under the headlights. A light with a honeycomb grid placed at the front added a touch of sparkle to the rings. A separate exposure was also taken with the headlights switched on to be blended later.

I love the image and it has just won me the Advertising category of the Professional Photographer Awards, so I am very proud of it. At the time I took it, it was a big deal being one of the first cars in the country and has received much press adulation since, so I felt privileged to be able to take the shot. The image relies on symmetry and of course the reflection for its impact. I chose a straight on composition to emphasise the aggressive nature of the vehicle.

POST PRODUCTION: Since I was shooting this in a garage as opposed to a purpose built studio, it was necessary to retouch the bonnet to remove reflections and this also allows the famous Audi rings to dominate this part of the picture. The mirror image is also added in Photoshop, by a simple inversion of the image, reducing its size slightly, adding a gentle ripple effect and darkening down to make a convincing reflection. It has created debate as to whether the reflection is real or ‘Photoshopped’ so I must have got something right! As it was a black car anyway the final thing to do was to convert to black and white to enhance the graphic feel.

Sports – Photographer – Christian Aslund – Website www.christian.se

LOCATION: Ramundberget, Sweden

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8. 1//250 Sec. f/18

LIGHTING: The sun is slightly behind the cottage creating hard shadows that I wanted to eliminate. I used two Hensel Porty battery powered generator with three heads to freeze the skier and the same time lighten the cottage. The Lynx is illuminated by two Nikon SB-800 flashes from each side.

CREATIVE PROCESS: We wanted the lynx and the skier being in focus in one shot so I had to shoot on a high aperture for the depth of field. Therefore we had to crank up the power on the flashes, and also for compensating the hard shadows. Skier Jesper Bjornlund, did a couple of jumps before I got him in the position I wanted. The landing was really flat and shitty but Jesper is one of the best mogul skiers in the world right now so he is used to that.

POST PRODUCTION: The image was exposed like a slide so the only post production in Photoshop was adjusting the contrast and colors a bit.

Weddings – Photographer Ryan Browne – Website www.ryan-browne.co.uk

LOCATION: All Saints Church South Yorkshire

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3 Camera with a 70-200mm @ f 2.8 1/160 3200 ISO

LIGHTING: No additional lighting was used.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This shot was taken just after the signing of the register, I had moved to the back of the church to give the guests a bit of room to get a shot of the couple. In my mind this is the time when you can get some really relaxed shots of the couple as they pose for friends and family. Totally unaware that I am also covering the moment.

POST PRODUCTION: The shot was processed in Nikons NX2, This bit of software is the best there is for processing NEF files. Once opened in Photoshop a conversion was done to black and white and the contrast and brightness was then tweaked. Once I had finished this I selectively burned in a few areas of the image to draw the eye towards the couple.

Portraits – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: At a friends studio in the center of Nottingham in 2007.

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark 1, Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L Settings – 1/200 at f8

LIGHTING: 3 foot Bowens soft box camera left.

CREATIVE PROCESS: Pretty simple really. I just love the black and white lines in her clothes against the background and the attitude in her pose.

POST PRODUCTION: I desaturated the image using Photoshop’s channel mixer and masked out the blue shoes on a layer mask. I also slightly saturated the shoes.

Sports – Photographer Christian Aslund – Website www.christian.se

LOCATION: Fernie, BC, Canada. Skier: Adam Falk

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24 mm f/2.8. 1/250 Sec. f/3.5

LIGHTING: Hensel Porty 12 Lithium; a compact, weather resistant, light and not too expensive Battery powered flash generator that is well suited for action photography.

CREATIVE PROCESS: We found this location in Fernie and decided to wait until after sunset so we could use a flash. The weather was bad; flat light and grey so by using a flash we could control the scene. The snow covered rocks looked like a moonscape so we tried to emphasize that when lightening the scene.

POST PRODUCTION: I never do any image manipulation on my editorial stuff. It’s basic development from raw file in Camera Raw to Photoshop, where I mainly work with curves for color and contrast.

Weddings – Photographer Brett Butterstein – Website www.brettbuttersteinphotography.com

LOCATION: Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado, January 17, 2010

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 5D, Canon 35mm F/1.4, ISO 1600, F/1.4, shutter 320th of a second.

LIGHTING: Video light

CREATIVE PROCESS: This couple was married in a ghost town in winter in Colorado where there is nothing but log cabins. I placed them outside of a window to the big dining room where they and their families would later have dinner. I’m inside shooting out. The groom’s brother is holding my video light on the couple. The blue is the snow outside. The darkness of the room was perfect because it hid any potential distracting elements. This picture could not have been made during the day. It took me a while to see this composition. I originally wanted them small in the window surrounded by complete darkness. Then I began including the lights on the ceiling and chose to tilt the camera to get a more interesting composition.

POST PRODUCTION: I use Adobe Lightroom to tone my images. I saturated the color and darkened the couple with the burn brush since I don’t like really bright, artificial light in my photographs.

Fashion – Photographer Stuart McIntyre – Website www.photonottingham.com

LOCATION: Photo Nottingham Studio, Nottingham City Centre

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D MK11- 17mm to 40mm f4 lens (set at 28mm) Iso 100, f 9.0, 160th of a second

LIGHTING: I used a large soft box high and to the right, and a smaller Courtney honeycomb on the colourama to create the highlight on the background.

CREATIVE PROCESS: Gore Couture commissioned the project; a small design company based in Nottingham who create hand-made, gothic, couture corsets. The title of the assignment was “Absinthe Fairy” for their “Essence of Absinthe” corset and was the culmination of a two-month project involving a team of creative specialists lead by Photo Nottingham.

We were inspired by gothic imagery, dark fairytales and the bohemian movement in Paris surrounding the drink of Absinthe. It was decided that the classic “green fairy” representation of the Absinthe Fairy would be combined with an alternative edge of gothic horror to produce an innovative and extraordinary set of images that represented both the garment itself, the image designer and the concept of the drink that inspired their creation.

I feel the strength of this shot is drawn from the impact of the image and the attitude it conveys. It is certainly “on message” for Gore Couture and their brand; outrageous, stylish and sometimes a little cheeky. The lighting and composition have combined to make the “fairy” stand off the page, and the wide-angle lens emphasises this also.

POST PRODUCTION: The post-production was undertaken in-house, and included textural embellishments and tonal adjustments to create the final unique images.

Weddings – Photographer Jasmine Star – Website www.jasminestarphotography.com

LOCATION: Christchurch, New Zealand

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5DMII, 85mm, 1.2, iso 125, 1/2000sec, f/1.2

LIGHTING: Natural light.  The bride was in the shade of a trailer as we were shooting midday and it was quite bright.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was teaching a photography workshop in New Zealand last month and it was incredibly hot and incredibly bright. Towards the end of the shoot, I asked the bride to sit in the shade and the only spot available was adjacent to a hot dog trailer.  She sat on a cooler (or what Kiwis call a “chilly bin”) and snapped a few photos.  Shooting in an area with limited environmental accoutrements can be difficult, but embracing the situation can help change your perspective.  And shooting at a f/1.2 always helps because it blurs out the background!  ;)

POST PRODUCTION: I try to use very limited Photoshop.  The picture was very cool due to the shade and the aluminum trailer reflecting light, so I warmed it up just a tad, added a bit of contrast, and a curves bump.  Then I burned the edges a bit to draw the focus to the bride.

Portraits – Photographer Christian Aslund – Website www.christian.se

LOCATION: Red Mountain, Rossland, BC, Canada

CAMERA: Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8. 1/160 Sec. f/6.3

LIGHTING: Handheld Nikon SB-800 with a Lastolite softbox attached fired with a Pocket Wizard.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I wanted a portrait of the local ski legend Brian and his characteristic face for reportage from BC. We only had a couple of minutes so the set-up was quick and easy with one handheld flash and five exposures later we were done.

POST PRODUCTION: Pulling the curves in Photoshop a bit for color and contrast.

Kids – Photographer Eric Doggett – Website www.doggettstudios.com

LOCATION: This image was shot in my backyard. We were setting up a trampoline and took a moment to get this shot before we installed all of the safety netting.

CAMERA: Canon 5D, 50mm lens, shot at f/18 at 1/250th of a second on a tripod. I was trying to get the image as dark as possible, as it was almost exactly noon when we took the shot (in the middle of August, in the middle of Texas).

LIGHTING: The scene was lit with a total of 4 strobes (3 of which were Zeus 2500 w/s lights, and the other was a White Lightning 1600). A large octabox is high and serving as the main light. There’s an edge light on each side of the frame. Finally, the White Lightning was used underneath the trampoline to light up the back fence. Most of the lights were set at or near full power, because they were far away from the subjects.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This image was really the start of my interest in humorous photography. In some ways it’s a ‘conversation starter’ image, because people look at it and try to figure out if what they are seeing is really happening. Usually they will ask how I did the shot (good question), or they will ask if the kid on the left hurt his head (bad question). It was also one of the first images I created with a strobe system, and it has defined my style of shooting and post-processing since then.

POST PRODUCTION: This shot is a composite of two images. Brandon (on the right) is in the original frame, which we took several shots of to catch him at the height of his jump. Separately, I took Trevor (on the left) and held him on the trampoline so that he would be lit with the same lighting set-up. Then, in Photoshop I took Trevor and put him in the scene with Brandon. Some skin/clothing work was required to remove my hands, which were holding him. Once the composition was complete, I did some contrast adjustments in Photoshop, along with some selective use of the Lucis Art plug-in to get the look. Finally, a little bit of motion blur was added to both boys as well as some edge vignetting.

add space

Portraits – Photographer Paul Mobley – Website www.paulmobleystudio.com

LOCATION - Picture was taken in Mount Ayr, Iowa

CAMERA AND LENS - Camera was Canon 1ds Mark III, Lens was 35mm 1.4, Setting was 1/60 at 5.6

LIGHTING - Lighting was a custom made fill card with a mirror in the center to “open up the eyes”. A large black fill card on the left side to sculpt the faces.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I knew I was photographing “twins” for my American Farmer series. The shoot was planned for sunrise. As I drove to their dairy farm, I noticed the bright moon in the sky and hoped it would stay for a few minutes after the sun rose (which is rare). Fortunately it did. This picture was taken literally 30 seconds after the sun rose. Within 2 minutes, the moon was gone. The fact that the twins were identical and BALD made it even better. The moon, the baldhead, etc… perfect! Sometimes the photography gods really do smile down on us.

I love these kinds of images because they’re “real”. Real people tend to give you their hearts. Where models and actors tend give the “standard poses” out of habit. I have to work much harder with professionals (to get a great shot) than real people. These guys were funny. Telling jokes between every take. Getting a serious expression was the key.  They are serious dairy farmer’s you know!

POST PRODUCTION – I did very little post production on this. I have some custom setting on my camera that boost the saturation a bit. That’s about it. Pretty straight shot.

Fashion – Photographer Gordon McGowan – Website www.gordonmcgowan.co.uk

LOCATION – Location for the shoot was my studio

CAMERA AND LENS – I used a Canon 5d mark2 with my favourite lens 24-105 set at f11 with a shutter speed of 125th sec

LIGHTING – I used my trusted ELINCHROM 500 HEAD with a metre square softbox flagged off with 4 black strips to cut down the light and also to shape the light and inside the softbox was another diffuser to soften the light even more, also the model was holding a small reflector so I could bring a little bit of light back into the area under the chin.

CREATIVE PROCESS – I just love dark moody images and for this shoot I also wanted to create a few images from the session with only two strong colours in the final image.   I also like the fact that with my lighting setup coming from above the model and spilling onto her face gives the final image a bit of an edgy mysterious look to it

POST PRODUCTION – There is really not a lot done to this image but what I did was I opened my image in Photoshop 5.5 then duplicated the layer and filled the layer with blue and then brought the opacity back to about 40% and then rubbed away the layer to reveal the strong colour of the dress and lips and that is all to be honest and  the total time  working  on the image about 3 minutes

Aviation – Photographer Chris Rose – Website None

LOCATION – In the skies above south central Pennsylvania

CAMERA AND LENS – Canon 5D Mk II with a EF 70-200 2.8 IS, shot at 95mm, F5.6, 1/100sec @ ISO 100

LIGHTING – Natural light about 30 min. before sunset

CREATIVE PROCESS – This Embraer Phenom 100 was photographed for the cover of AOPA Pilot magazine in the spring of 2009.  Our aerial formation crew of 5 departed northern Maryland about an hour and a half before sunset and headed north over central PA.  This, like most photo missions consisted of two aircraft, each flown by experienced and highly trained formation pilots. In this case the photo plane was a Beechcraft Bonanza flown by AOPA Pilot’s Editor in Chief, Tom Haines.  The Bonanza, a single-engine propeller-driven aircraft is a fantastic platform and is highly regarded by many aviation photographers. Its speed (and thus ability to keep pace with a wide range of subject aircraft), as well as the fact that it has two large rear doors that can be easily removed for shooting, make it an obvious choice for this kind of work.  Within 20 min. after departure, we arrive at the pre-determined shooting area with me facing aft and harnessed into the back of the Bonanza at the edge of the (now missing) doors.  The subject aircraft then joined us in formation, and we began a series of shallow and steep 360-degree turns, taking advantage of the how the light changed and moved across the aircraft’s exterior.  The in/out and up/down movements of the jet were controlled by commands given either over the cockpit radios or by hand signals between myself and the subject aircraft.  As the sun began to reach the horizon, we decided to make one more orbit, and as the Phenom rolled out of its turn to begin the course for home, I captured a series of shots – including this one.

POST PRODUCTION – I often get asked, “how many of your images do you enhance in Photoshop?” – my answer, all of them.  I never feel guilty about taking advantage of the flexibility that digital photography provides.  In the case of this particular shot, the wonderful evening sunlight did most of the work, but in my RAW workflow, every image gets at the very least a boost in vibrance and sharpened.

Chris Rose is a staff photographer for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association based in Frederick, MD, www.aopa.org.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION – Seville, Spain 2007

CAMERA AND LENS – Canon 40D – Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS

LIGHTING – The soaring Spanish sun.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I took this image while second shooting for a good friend in Seville, Spain. He was setting up some portraits of the bride in the doorway when all of a sudden her dress got caught in her shoe. Her bridesmaid came over to fix the problem and I knew that was the shot. I love the colours and the stance of the bride. Blue and yellow are opposite colours and always look awesome when together. I also love the moment the two of them are sharing.

POST PRODUCTION - I saturated the colours in curves and added some contrast and applied a border.

Portraits – Photographer Brett Harkness – Website www.brettharknessphotography.com

LOCATION - This shoot took place in our studio against a white wall.

CAMERA & LENS - I use a Canon EOS 1DS mark III. This shot was taken with a 70-200 2.8L IS lens. Shot on 200 ISO, 200th sec @ f5. I used the lens around the 100mm focal length, sitting on the floor 10 ft away from the couch.

LIGHTING - This shot is lit with one Canon speedlight 580EXII. Used with a Lastolite Ezy box. Flash power was 1/4 power on manual. Using the Ezy box up close, just out of shot top left means you can get a nice crisp light on the subject. Making sure the light flood was just enough to cover the babies face.

CREATIVE PROCESS - Having shot this family twice before I decided that a more stylish approach was necessary on this shoot. We also shot outside mixing it up a bit with prime lenses but I wanted a really stylized look for the baby. Thinking about the scene as well not just the subject. Sometimes you can make shoots like this too complicated, waiting for the perfect moment meant that the baby did all the hard work.

POST PRODUCTION - Not a great deal has been done to this shot. I shoot jpg and try and get it right when shooting. I have added a little hard light in PS. Creative dodging and burning. You can see more of how I work on my images by clicking here, DISCOVER BHP <http://www.brettharknessphotography.com/brett-harkness-photography-blog.aspx?filterbycategory=discover>

Landscape – Photographer Lisa Forman – Website www.lisaforman.com

LOCATION - Somewhere under a canal in Venice

CAMERA AND LENS - Leica M6 settings: Ilford Delta 400 speed BW film, probably 1/60 @ f8 (but I am really not sure, I stopped writing all that down a long time ago)

LIGHTING - Available Light

CREATIVE PROCESS - It was July in Venice, not a great time to make photographs the way I like (empty streets). I was so happy to have met this beautiful blond gondolier.  I told him I was a photographer and I wanted to go where there are few tourists.  I asked him to just wander around the canals.  It was early morning. I was completely enthralled with the reflective light all over the city.  We started to go underneath a bridge, and I was so fascinated with the light bouncing off the ancient stones, the sunlight streaming down into the water, I framed the shot and focused my camera.  I don’t think I even noticed the ghostly images of humans on the bridge in front of me. Later on the gondolier let me stand up and take the oar (remo). That was a blast!

POST PRODUCTION - This photograph has not been “produced” in any way.  It was developed and printed.  When I shoot film, my goal is to create an image in the camera the way I want it to be when it is printed.  Occasionally, there have been some darkroom dodges or burns, but very little.  I do use digital cameras for other types of work and will use Silver Efex Pro, or other P’Shop enhancements. I have sold several large prints of Venice Light, my editions are usually 11.

Fashion – Photographer Rebecca Parker – Website www.rebecca-parker.co.uk

LOCATION - is Llansaint near Kidwelly Carmarthenshire.

CAMERA AND LENS – Nikon D70 with an 18-70 lens.

LIGHTING - reflector held by an assistant.

CREATIVE PROCESS –. I love this image as I feel it conveys everything my work is about and also symbolizes the type of art I love. It is full of colour and the image oozes with sumptuousness. The model is filled with emotion and her pose is classical dramatic but delicate. Also the location is near to where I lived so even though it is pretty, it was one of my special places I used to walk my dogs. I love this image as the model and MUA bring so much to it and she looks part of the landscape.

POST PRODUCTION - I added two textures and popped the colours in Photoshop. I also added a vignette. This process is like a signature to all my work. It adds atmosphere and also creates a recognizable style to my work.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION - Sandon Hall, Stafford, United Kingdom

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D Mark I with Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L IS

LIGHTING - Indoor tungsten lighting from ceiling

CREATIVE PROCESS - I love this image as my assistant and I were outside in the freezing cold taking a break when all of a sudden, I see the bride and groom out the corner of my eye. I pick up my camera and fired off about 6 images as they walked through the Hall’s corridor. Holding hands, unaware and alone – the perfect moment. I particularly love the framing within the window, the overall composition, the lines, and the colours how they reflect how cold it was outside and how warm inside.

POST PRODUCTION - I cooled down the blues and warmed up the yellows using colour balance in Photoshop CS4.

Portraits – Photographer Tamara Lackey – Website www.tamaralackey.com

LOCATION - Bald Head Island, North Carolina

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D Mark II, 24mm-70mm 2.8 lens, f 4.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 100

LIGHTING - natural light, shot at sunset

CREATIVE PROCESS - Playing along with a high-energy shoot, I ran after my 8 year-old subject, meeting her mom down at the water’s edge.  As we jumped out of the rapidly larger oncoming waves, mom scooped up her daughter to whisk her away.  I love the authenticity of the moment, the flush in their cheeks and even the squeals that didn’t make it to the still image but kind of travel along with it anyway.

I shot this image at close range to my subjects, the entire frame cropped in-camera.  I usually shoot pretty wide open but dialed out to an f4 so as to keep both of my subjects’ faces in focus at such close range.  I composed this image so as to emphasize their playful, so-alive expressions, as well as the movement between them and the wind and water, filling up my ‘negative space’ with that gorgeous expanse of ocean (which is hard to see as a negative  In addition, I utilized a healthy camera tilt to further convey the sense of movement.  I normally like my horizons to be pretty straight, but every so often I’ll go for this look and just love it.

POST PRODUCTION - This image was shot in color and converted to black and white, with an additional warm toning in Photoshop.  I boosted the contrast but was sure to manage the highlights in the white clothing.  I softened the overall image to compensate for the contrast boost, as I liked the softness of their windblown hair and their sweet expressions – finally, I added a soft vignette via the sloppy lasso tool.

Portraits – Photographer Grant Scott – Website www.grantscott.com

LOCATION – The Dome Brighton, England

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D with a Canon 50mm prime L series lens at 800 ISO. I know this because that’s what I always shoot at.

LIGHTING - Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS - My pictures are not about big or grand gestures they are about conversations.  This shot of Paolo Nutini was shot on a backstage staircase at The Dome Brighton as part of a project I was shooting titled The Dome Sessions in which I spent a year –photographing the people who performed at the venue who interested me. Paolo had just had his first hit and was easy going and relaxed after a sound check. We chatted about what he’d been doing, becoming famous and a recent holiday he’d been on and the pictures happened. I always work like this.

POST PRODUCTION - Colour correction in Photoshop

Portraits – Photographer Naya Politis – Website www.studiopolitis.gr

LOCATION - Monastery of Panagia Panton Hara, Kalentzi, Kiato, Corinthia, Greece

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon EOS 5D, 24-105 mm f4 Canon Lenses shot at 40 mm f5.6, ISO 1600

LIGHTING - The only available light, was the little one in front of the monk

CREATIVE PROCESS - As the monk of this picture is considered to be a wise and nearly holly man in Greece, my insight was to take a picture of him in his cell, keeping the original atmosphere and trying to capture the spiritual energy that surrounds him. In order to achieve this, I decided not to use any artificial lighting and, as an equipment, nothing more than my camera. I believe that the best way to make people look natural, is to photograph them in their own place and keep everything simple. You have to do it naturally. When it comes to a portrait, the only way to make emotions emerge, is spend time with the person you are about to shoot before you raise your camera.

POST PRODUCTION - Having a raw material as powerful as this original photo, the only thing left to be done was to remove everything not necessary from the background and the desk. I avoided face retouching to keep his acetic figure and only worked in layers trying to make the image as low key as possible. Color Efex Pro filters where used to achieve a pretty dark result, allowing his face to shine and fill everyone looking at the picture with an unearthly glow.

Weddings – Photographer Gordon Jovic – Website www.gordonjovicphotography.com

LOCATION - Photographed at the Brides parents house in a suburban town of Sydney.

CAMERA AND LENS - Shot this one with a Nikon D700. Lens was a Nikkor 28-70mm 2.8. Settings were 1/160 sec at 5.0 ISO was 1600.

LIGHTING - One small reflector was used to the left of the subject. Natural light source was coming from the partially glass door.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I was looking for something to enhance the shot with which typically gives a bride more natural body language if they can hold onto something. I saw this Venetian mask on the wall, the bride being of Italian background of course liked the idea. She instinctively placed it over her face but that was not what I wanted. My idea was to bring out the feminine touch in her so I asked her to just place it by her side. The mask was merely a photographic item that would add to the image. I also asked her to think about everything she has been through to get to this moment and it created the expression I was after.

POST PRODUCTION - This image looks nice in colour but in black and white it comes to life so I decided to convert it. I cleaned up all the little spots visible in the shot, air brushed the brides face, and processed it using some of my own created actions to bring out a true black and white so that it looks as if were shot with film. Being kind of a low-key image post processing was not so extensive the main thing was to bring out the beautiful light on her face.

Weddings – Photographer Otto Schulze – Website www.ottoschulzephotographers.com

LOCATION - Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D3 and 17-35mm f2.8. SB-800. ISO 3200

LIGHTING - Nikon SB-800

CREATIVE PROCESS - This is one of those rare moments these days where I pulled my flash out of the bag. I prefer the look and feel of natural light especially for capturing the emotion on a moment. As the reception began I noticed the bride taking the groom around room and introducing him to everyone and I wanted to capture this. I put my SB-800 on and decided to bounce of the ceiling with a small white bounce card. I set my shutter to about 1/4 sec and fired of a few frames. All the while moving with them to try and capture the sense of movement…

POST PRODUCTION – At first I had the image as a b&w shot but it just didn’t quite have the feeling I was looking for. So I brought the opacity of the film effect (done in Silver Effex ) down quite a bit until I almost had a color sepia look. I then took that image into Exposure 2 and played with one of my favourite old Polaroid emulsions. This really added the warmth to the image I was looking for. I then layered this over the previous b&w conversion. Grain was enhanced in order to add to the texture image. What I love most about this image is that even after all of this I could never in a million years replicate this image again! It’s the magic of photography, the moment happened and then it passed.

Fashion – Photographer Bernard Polidano – Website http://bernardpolidano.blogspot.com/

LOCATION – After a lot of scouting around Malta to find the perfect location for this shot I decided that the best place for what I had in mind was in one of the main suits of the Phoenicia Hotel .The beautiful natural lighting, decor and all the surroundings of this room all complimented to what I had in mind.

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D700 with Nikon lens 105mmf/2.8. Settings were set at 1/60 at f11 since I wanted the dress detail to be very sharp. I find this lens fantastic, especially when I have plenty of room to work.

LIGHTING – Well I had all sorts of lighting for this shoot, living on an island like Malta means that you have sunlight almost all year round and for this particular shoot we placed the model in front of a large window and the sheer curtains provided a very beautiful diffused light, which served as a back light on the model. Then I used 2 Visatec solo 800, one fitted with a soft box and the other with a white umbrella. In my photo shoots, I like to use a lot of glamour lighting set ups – placing the soft box right in front and high up to the model and then placing a second diffuser fixed to a tripod in front of the soft box to diffuse more of the light. In this case the second light was placed far back just to give that kick needed and a sparkle in the eye. As I have said, the room we were shooting in had a lot of natural light coming in so what I wanted to achieve was a nice blend between natural light and artificial light.

CREATIVE PROCESS – This was a photo shoot for a local TV programme that shows all the hard work being carried out backstage, for the photos we all see in magazines posters etc, so both me and my team had to come up with an idea and then filming all the way through the whole process of the photo shoot. The theme we had in mind was to recreate that Hollywood divas style of the 50s, 60s, and the glamour of the dolce vita. Hence even the choice of the model played a crucial role in this shoot since we wanted someone with a particular look and attitude.

POST PRODUCTION – Working in the fashion industry, post processing is almost a must and I’m definitely a Photoshop addict. My wife and I just love to Photoshop and shooting in raw gives me a lot of flexibility and creativity.  Most of the work done on this particular photo was high end beauty retouching in particular softening of the skin and also enhancement of certain detailed areas such as the dress and also the eyes. Sometimes we also modify the lighting in Photoshop but in this case we did not.

Portraits – Photographer Marko – Website www.imagesbymarko.com

LOCATION - My studio. The background is a simple tarpaulin that had been extremely weathered as it had literally come of the back of a lorry. I loved the textures that had created.

CAMERA AND LENS - Bronica ETRSi. 100 mm lens. Although most of my work is now shot on digital I occasionally shoot on medium format and large format film. I enjoy the discipline of creating images in a small number of frames. This image was shot on Fuji Neopan medium format black and white film. Shot at F8 and 125th sec using studio flash heads.

LIGHTING - Two studio heads with soft boxes on. However the main key light was placed to the sitter’s right at about 45degrees and its diffuser cover was removed to give more sparkle to the light and enhance the texture of his complexion. A second soft box was placed to the sitter’s left with diffuser cover still on. The softer light was set to ½ stop lower just to fill in. There is also a small light behind and below the sitter to illuminate the background.

CREATIVE PROCESS - The sitter was a wonderful character called Carlos whom I met in Cornwall but who was originally from Mozambique. He had incredible charisma and was a joy to photograph. I simply couldn’t take a bad shot of him as he was really in charge of himself and very at ease with the camera. My portraiture is simply a reaction to the presence of the people that I photograph. I hope that I can capture the intensity of the moment when I am interacting with people.

POST PRODUCTION - Very little. The chosen negative was scanned at high-res and then the resulting digital file was cropped slightly with some minor adjustments in curves and a slight vignette darkened around the edge.

Pets – Photographer Paul Walker – Website www.pawspetphotography.com

LOCATION - Hilltop in Ayrshire

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D3 Settings: F8, 1/1250, Lens Nikon 12-24mm. Needed large depth of field (enough for unexpected order of dogs over hill top)

LIGHTING - The sun (not the most ideal sun position, yet the action/animation more than makes up for it)

CREATIVE PROCESS - The key concern at the time of thinking through the image was the speed and potential separation distance of the different dogs as they pursued the ball across the hill ridge. This was in part controlled by the handler (hidden from view) having strict instructions to release the ball in a certain way only when the dogs where in their respective positions around her.

POST PRODUCTION - I altered the overall colour of the image to something far less vivid than the original green grass that was detracting from the movement and colour of the German Short-haired Pointers.

Fashion – Photographer  Ross James – Website www.rossjamesphotography.com

LOCATION – This shoot took place on the beach of Vashon Island, WA. After scouting the island for over 2 days, I decided on this particular spot near an abandoned dock.

CAMERA AND LENS - I used a Nikon D300 with a 50mm 1.4 lens. I chose that focal length because I didn’t want to go too wide, and I also had limited length behind me to get the angle that I wanted. My exposure was 1/250th second, f/16, and ISO 200. I was using the sun as a backlight but since it was so bright, I closed down the aperture and shutter as much as I could.

LIGHTING - My main light on the model was a Profoto Acute 7 head with the Profoto 22″ soft light and diffuser sock. This was up fairly close to the model just to camera left and just above the frame. I like the light I get from the beauty dish because it’s not too soft and not too hard. I also triggered a couple Nikon sb800’s that were gridded just to highlight the jackets. I had one at full power on camera right mainly hitting the 2 jackets on the right to show the details of the clothes.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I conceived this shot ahead of time… First I chose the location, and that’s were most of my inspiration came from. While I was shooting some test shots the week before, I noticed that it would be fairly easy to get some birds in the shot if I brought along a loaf of bread. I knew that the designer, Heilyke, had this corset top and I envisioned capturing a mood like this with the model posing like I captured. Besides only trying to fill the frame with birds, I asked the designer if I could hang some of her jackets across the 2 posts.

POST PRODUCTION - In post I composited the birds from a couple different frames, applied some dodge and burn to the clothes and model, and removed a board the model was standing on in order not to sink into the sand. Then a little color and contrast tweak for the last step.

Weddings – Photographer Tracy Turpen – Website www.tracyturpen.com

LOCATION - The beach, Hilton Head Island

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D Mark II, 24 1.4 L lens, 1/1600 sec at 1.8.   ISO 100.  I grabbed my widest lens so I could really showcase how generous the sash was in length.

LIGHTING – Available light.  The photo was taken about 45 minutes before sunset.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I spotted the silky sash on the couple’s wedding arbor during the couple photos after the ceremony and knew I wanted to incorporate it.   Seeing as how they were both dressed in white my eye was drawn to the blue sky.  I wanted to contrast the blue against the surplus of white fabric.   I had my assistant throw the sash high into the sky while the couple kissed.  It took quite a few tosses but with the help of a nice throw and a powerful wind gust I finally nailed how I wanted to scarf to flow around the couple.  I love the movement, the dreamy feel, and how the long sash draws your eye to the couple again and again.

POST PRODUCTION - Photo was a RAW file taken in SRGB mode in Camera. There wasn’t a great deal done in post production but I did brighten the exposure in Lightroom and deepened the blacks.  Then I exported the raw file and burned in the blue sky in Photoshop.  I also burned the sash to bring out more of the detail.

Fashion – Photographer Luke Copping – Website www.lukecopping.com

LOCATION - Buffalo, NY USA

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D, ISO 100, F: 6.3, Shutter: 1/50, Lens: MKII, canon 70-200 4.0 L

LIGHTING - 3 Kino Flo Diva light 400’s

I like to use the Kino-Flo for beauty and portrait work, as it allows me to visualize the more subtle changes of light on the face, I also really like their ability to spread a nice even light across the face, because of their limited variance in output, you have to be very careful with positioning to control your output. They are really great for picking out highlights on the skin and defining shape.

CREATIVE PROCESS - This was prepped for a magazine in the Buffalo and Toronto areas, a story on androgyny and fashion, I felt that the model had a very strong profile that worked well within the theme of the assignment. We needed a full spread layout that left room for copy, so we decided on a strong profile that was balanced with more negative space on the right side. As usually, with a story like this, working close in hand with my styling team was exceptionally important, they are an integral part of the creative process. In terms of light, we allowed the background to be lit by the spill from the keys, and the main light is camera lift, and slightly above the model, just a little less than 90 degrees off camera axis. There is also a light above the model to bring some more highlight out of the hair, and one low and facing her back to provide some highlight on her skin and clothing

POST PRODUCTION - Most of the post-production involved general beauty retouching, enhancing and evening out the tones of the skin without destroying the natural texture and beauty of her skin. All done at the pixel level to give her a more consistent skin tone. Some hand painted highlights and shadows were dodged and burned into the image as well The only major retouching was some subtle reshaping of her hair shape.

Fashion – Photographer Kate Drennan – Website www.katedrennan.com

LOCATION - Yanchep Beach, North of Perth, Western Australia.

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, 1/250sec, f/10, ISO 100, Focal length 50mm, Lens EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. I usually use the 24-7omm because I like the ability to zoom and crop but I have started using the 50mm and LOVE the quality, which I sometimes get disappointed with in the 24-70mm. We were on an isolated beach with plenty room and time to move around the models.

LIGHTING - I used an off camera speed light. I started with the reflector but for this shot just used the flashlight held to the top left of my camera.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I love sharp punched out images. This image has great detail and I think the colours blend well together. The lighting is straight on and matched to the background so that the subjects appear almost cut out from the background. A very standard composition in this case, I tend to often place subjects left of center and moving the viewer’s eyes from left to right across the image.

POST PRODUCTION - I must admit, I know all the great photographers swear by an all in camera production, but I love Photoshop! I do retouching work to earn extra money while studying and I am on Photoshop all day and night – it’s a bit of an obsession… I use filters, which resemble HDR effects and then remove areas here and there so that skin is still real but edges and features are punched out. I lighten and darken areas to assist in this overall effect.

Fashion – Photographer Melissa Rodwell – Website www.melissarodwell.com

LOCATION - Out of Frame Studio in Hollywood, California.

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D2x, ISO 200, 85mm f/1.4 lens set at f10 at 1/250 sec. I used my 85mm because it’s a great lens for fashion and it’s also really sharp. I used f10 to maintain the sharpness and I shot at 1/250 to capture the movement of the model.

LIGHTING - 1 Elinchrom deep throat in front of the model. Model was close to the background.

CREATIVE PROCESS - We had just heard word that Irving Penn had died the morning of this shoot. I have always been a big fan of Penn’s fashion work, so I was obviously pretty moved by this news.  I think we all sort of channelled his spirit that day, with the poses and the styling. Even though the shoot was  prepped days before we shot, the day of the actual shooting I think we all were in a bit of quiet reflection that one of fashion’s icon had just passed away. I chose one big beautiful light because I wanted to create a simplicity on the set and let the incredible clothes speak for themselves. I chose Sarah Deana from LA Models because she not only is incredibly beautiful, she moves like a dream! She also emotes a sensuousness and a iconic fashion sense. The two blend into a dynamic energy that is just wonderful to work with. This was actually just a test for my book but the clothes came from a boutique in Los Angeles called CHURCH. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship that I continue to have with CHURCH’s owners Rodney Burns and David Malvaney. After Rodney and David saw what I did with this shoot they began hiring me to shoot their clothing for their yet to be unveiled website. I was truly inspired from the gate after visiting CHURCH for the first time and seeing the clothing lines that they carry. I wanted to photograph them with as much simplicity as possible (white background, one light, clean space) in order to really show off the greatness of the clothing. To me fashion photography has just gone haywire recently, and especially in the digital age where just about everyone claims now to be a photographer. The one thing I learned very early on in my career as a fashion photographer is that the clothing is the most important part of the photograph and should be shot in a way that really shows off them off. I wanted to return to the early days of fashion photography, where people like Irving Penn held reign, and show the glamour and unique richness that those early heroes were so very good at!

POST PRODUCTION - There was very little post done to this picture. I am not a huge fan of overly retouched images. I try to get everything in camera, like we HAD to in the early days when we were shooting film. I think the floor was cleaned up a little to get rid of any footprints and smudges. And there was some mild color correction done to the skin tone. Other than that, what you see is what I got!

Weddings – Photographer Daniel Kudish – Website www.davinaplusdaniel.com

LOCATION – Reception hall in Montreal, QC

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D700, 50mm 1.4 lens, shot at ISO1000 f2.8 1/100 – I exposed for the light behind the couple. In theory, the ISO could’ve been a bit lower, but I didn’t have time to adjust it, just crank up the f-stop from 1.4.

LIGHTING - No additional lighting was used.

CREATIVE PROCESS - This shot was taken during one of the many times the guests were banging on the glasses to get the couple to kiss. We were sitting on the other side of the room, so every time it happened, we’d have to run across the dance floor to get to the head table. On this particular one, I didn’t have a chance to make it all the way, so I stopped half way and took it from further away, not noticing all the action that was happening in the frame. I only discovered it later on, when reviewing the images. I did however know that I wanted to get a silhouette on the next attempt, so at least my settings were ready. I like the framing going on around the couple, with the father of the bride looking on, the bridesmaid taking a picture, and the best man minding his own business, eating his meal. Plus, the couple was caught at the perfect moment, before creating a silhouetted blob.

POST PRODUCTION - The blacks were deepened in Photoshop, and saturation + vibrance boosted to bring out the orange glow in the back. I thought about cropping out the top and left part of the picture, but I like the framing it creates, and the image breathes better with it.

Weddings – Photographer Juile Kim – Webite www.juliekimphotography.com

LOCATION - Top of 30 St Mary Axe in London, also known as The Gherki

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D Mk II, 16-35 mm on 16, f2.8, 1/400 at ISO 400

LIGHTING - Ambient light

CREATIVE PROCESS - I will be the first to admit that this was not a particularly difficult picture to capture.  The iconic Gherkin is an amazing building and coupled with clear skies, it’s quite easy to take a dramatic picture.  I knew that the couple loved this venue so I wanted to make sure that I was showing it off as best I could.  The structural details, in particular, are a natural graphic element.  I like the symmetry of this picture and the interaction between the guests.  If I were to critique this image, there is a slight bit of distortion on the sides from shooting so wide, but I was perched somewhat precariously on the second floor and didn’t want to risk being any higher in case I toppled over the short barrier!  I took four different variations of the shot and settled for this one in the end.  Sometimes the simplest pictures are the ones that work best.

POST PRODUCTION - The sky was burned in to reveal the details in the city skyline.  I warmed the image up to emphasize the late afternoon sun and boosted the contrast and saturation a bit.  I normally use a combination of Boutwell’s Snap and Alien Skin’s film emulation software.

Portraits – Photographer Scott Kelby - www.scottkelby.com/portfolio/

LOCATION - In NAPP’s in-house studio in Oldsmar, Florida

CAMERA AND LENS - Nikon D3; 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens; 1/200 of a second at f/13; shot in Manual Mode. The 70-200mm is my go-to lens for portraits. I love the compression the lens gives for portraits, and that’s why I shoot it out at the 200mm range most of the time. I shot at f/13 to keep lots of detail and focus throughout the shot.

LIGHTING - This was lit with an Elinchrom RX-600 with a beauty dish attachment to give the light a harder, punchy edge than a simple softbox. It’s positioned off to the right of camera, but almost right over his head, aiming down. It’s shot on a pure white background.

CREATIVE PROCESS - What I like best about it is that’s it’s on that bright white background—you wouldn’t expect a high-key background for a football shot like this, and I think that’s why it works. I also used a strobe directly behind him—-aiming right at the camera (but his body was blocking the light from entering my lens) with a reflector and spot grid, to add a rim light to the sides of his face.

POST PRODUCTION - I did a process I’ve written about called “EDP: Expanded Definition Processing” which is done in Camera Raw. I also desaturated the color a bit, which is a really trendy post-processing technique these days. We also sprayed him in the face with a water bottle, so he would look like he had been sweating (he was totally cool with it). Then I added some High Pass sharpening to really bring out every little detail in his jersey and face. Lastly, I used the CS4 Dodge and Burn tools to brighten all the highlight areas and darken all the shadow areas to add depth and dimension to the photo. This has more effect than you’d think.

Portraits – Photographer Shelby Chan – Website www.shelbychan.com

LOCATION - Studio in New York City

CAMERA AND LENS - Hasselblad H3DII-50 – HC80mm lens, iso 50, shutter 1/500, f/19 manual focus.  I wanted a very slight shallow depth of field so that the focus is in his facial expression.

LIGHTING – (2) Profoto 7B’s and (2) Profoto AcuteB 600R’s. 5 head set up.  Gridded beauty dish overhead with 2 kickers with zoom reflectors gridded at 20 degrees.  Un-modified ringflash for frontal fill. Background light with zoom reflector and 10degree grid.

CREATIVE PROCESS – I started a project consisting of a series of photographs called “Ordinary”. The subjects are of my friends that I feel made an impact on life and the people that surround them. Pictured is Joe, whom, without saying too much, has been through a battlefield of life, has paid his dues, and is here to tell it. What I wanted to convey was the intensity of his personality and to bring out a visual image of his “thought process” which, is known to be un-readable. I used gridded and hard lighting to bring out the textures of his face thereby amplifying an already deep expression. By adding elements that the subject enjoys, in this case, bourbon and cigars, brings us a little closer to the subject. By having his hands folded, he has already spoken, and it is the viewer’s turn to speak. I shot it against a pale blue background because the shirt he is wearing was similar in color with contrasting blue stripes. The reason behind it was to allow the backdrop and subject to blend together, yet having just enough contrast to pop without being distracting. I centered the subject to duplicate the typical field of vision we normally have when conversing with people, while placing the bourbon left of the frame as an offset.

POST PRODUCTION – Relying mostly on hard lighting to bring out sharpness and detail, the image made it’s first pass through the Phocus software for fine color tuning, and converted for processing with Photoshop. I made contrast adjustments to his pin striped shirt to help tie in the overall rigidity of the image. The cigar was not actually lit, and the burning embers and smoke was done in post. I did this for two reasons. One, there is no smoking in my studio, and secondly, I feel that adding a little active feature in portraits I shoot, help give the still image more “life”.

Lingerie – Photographer Rod Howe – Website www.rodhowe.com

LOCATION - Set built in a London studio.

CAMERA AND LENS - Hasselblad H system and 50-110 zoom lens, with Phase One 45+ digital back. 100 ISO, 1/125 shutter @ f5.6. This image was shot for use as a large window display, so we chose to shoot on the high end Phase One, which on this occasion just happened to be attached to a Hasselblad.

LIGHTING - HMI Fresnel 4KW x1, HMI Fresnel 2.5KW x 2. I used the 4K as the fill, diffused through Rosco soft frost – aimed directly at set from behind and above camera. 2.5K as effect light with orange gel, no diffusion, to give the warm glow and strong shadows. Another 2.5K effect with blue gel, no diffusion, camera left, to put colour into some of the shadow area’s and lift the general ambiance.

CREATIVE PROCESS - This image forms part of a larger brochure, in-store poster and window display shoot, for a lingerie brand. The theme was loosely inspired by the golden age of travel and steam railways – with a bit of raunchy decadence thrown in for good measure. My decision to use HMI lighting was to give the images a movie like quality, and the choice of gels in this scene was intended to give an alluring night time atmosphere, mixing unspecified imaginary interior and exterior lighting. I shot from a low angle (sitting on the floor), to put the guy in the foreground – so we kind of see the girl from his point of view – and to get the perspective of the bench seat and window.

POST PRODUCTION - Raw file processed to RGB Tiff in Capture One with adjustment. I’d worked out the basic effects process settings on some test images with the art director before hand, to enhance the movie and retro quality we were looking for (basically fiddling around with curves and sliders until we got something we liked). This particular process desaturates and adds contrast to the image, so the colours represented here are more washed out than the original image. I had to keep this in mind whilst lighting the set, knowing that some subtle effects could be lost. Tiff imported to Photoshop for some further retouching – removing bits of debris and marks from set, along with a few minor imperfections in the garment, and smoothing the girls skin a little.

Fine Art – Photographer Faye Yerbury – Website www.yerburystudio.com

LOCATION - Country House in Somerset.

CAMERA AND LENS – Nikon D 300. Manual: F-stop 3.5. Aperture 3.5. ISO 640 – Focal length 24.0mm. Lens 24-70 f2.8.

LIGHTING – Daylight only.

CREATIVE PROCESS – The bath was deep copper and lent itself to something beautiful such as the perfect model used here to produce the image. The composition took care of itself once I had instructed the model what I wanted to achieve from the situation.

POST PRODUCTION - There is some cropping on an angle in Photoshop. Lots of contrast and saturation of colour, the use of totally rad (rusty cage) to give the warm glow. Also used Liquify To enhance the body shape and redirect the hair.

Weddings – Photographer Milos Horvat – Website www.miloshorvat.com

LOCATION – Venice

CAMERA AND LENS – Canon 5dII + sigma 20-40 f2.8 at f4.5 – 1/6sec – iso 640

LIGHTING – natural-ambient light

CREATIVE PROCESS – This image was taken last September on a wedding in Venice. It instantly became one of my favourite images. I knew it was a “winner” the second I saw it on the camera screen. I really like it because it has a strong “art” feeling, without loosing a meaning of a wedding photo. I see a lot of story in this image…. like “look at me my girl, we are dancing, trust me, I will lead you through life as we dance now.” I hope that this my description of the tale, will not cause too much excitement among the more “feminist” oriented girls:), but this is how I see this image. The image was taken during the first dance. Immediately after I took a safe shot (the one with no blur etc.), I stared playing with slow shutter speed to get something different. I choose the wide-angle lens Sigma 20-40 f2.8 put it on 20mm to show the ambience of the space at the same time. Put my camera settings to f 4.5 1/6 sec and start shooting from the floor (this helps you to stay camera still). I shot in sequences few times to get the best possible shot. It’s a tricky game, cause you really can’t totally predict how the image will come out, but when all things fall right together, this is the end result.

POST PRODUCTION – Basically a good BW conversion in PS was all I did.

Fashion – Photographer Richard Warren – Website www.richardwarrenphotos.com

LOCATION - Bedroom of private residence hired as a location

CAMERA AND LENS – Canon 5d ISO 250, Lens 24-105 at about 50 ml and setting 30th of a second at f 4.0 I can’t take this type of photo with a medium format camera because I need a higher ISO and shallow depth of field.

LIGHTING - Comet 1200 strobe bounced into the ceiling behind and left of camera. One Lowel 1K DP light ( un-corrected) from same angle to give some shadows. Another hot light , a 650 Lowel Omni light was used in the bath room / hallway behind the model on the floor.

CREATIVE PROCESS – This was from a fashion editorial named “Homage to Helmet” where we recreated a style that the photographer Helmet Newton might have used. Rather than use nudes, or fetish images I decided to focus on decadence. I think when people look at a fashion photograph they think decadence. Perhaps its because they are lusting for a garment that they can not afford, or they enjoy playing the voyeur peaking in to the life of the rich. Its about desire.

POST PRODUCTION – Raw file was processed with little adjustments in Lightroom then imported into Photoshop as a tiff. I made the color to black and white conversions using the channel mixer and made one layer flat and another very contrasty. Using a layer mask I burned in the high and low contrasty values as needed. Over all contrast was then adjusted using curves. I did uneven dodging and burning to simulate dodging in the dark room. I purposely left a halo around the featured models head as this was a signature “ dodge mark” that was used in much of the fashion photography in the 60’s and 70’s. Certainly Helmet Newton had seen the photo of Francis Bacon by Bill Brandt when he instructed his darkroom printer to realize much of his black and white work. At the end I put a slight sepia tone into the image and some film grain to complete the film look.

Weddings – Photographer David Murray – Website www.davidmurrayweddings.com

LOCATION- Montaluce Vineyards, Dahlonega GA August, 2009

CAMERA AND LENS – Shot manual with a Nikon D3, ISO 800, 50th of a second, 2.8 I tend to have my aperture at 2.8 for my wide images  (17-35) which is as open as it gets for that lens.  At this depth of field, the subject is most dominant.  All else becomes less important in terms of focus.  I do this to help the eye go to the subject.

LIGHTING – Available light only. There were many long (4ft/1.2 meters) sparklers handed out to the guests.  I just figured that this lighting would be enough.

CREATIVE PROCESS – Compositionally it has wonderful layers. There are lots of things, people, and faces, to look at in the photo.  Because of the lighting and the white of the bride’s dress, the viewer is drawn to her and her joyous reaction to the moment.  Also, the image reminds me of Rembrandt’s, “The Night Watch”(www.rembrandtpainting.net/rembrandt’s_night_watch.htm), where darkness is interrupted by light shinning, and profiling the main subjects. Of course this is no Rembrandt, but it is interesting to think that the principles of light and composition have not changed over centuries.  Mostly, I love this image because I was able to capture the joie de vivre of my lovely bride Meredith.  I hope that it will remind her and her husband Ben of their wonderful wedding day.

POST PRODUCTION - I wanted it black and white.  In times where the moment is key, I don’t want anything to distract the viewer from what is going on.  For this image, I used Jeff Ascough’s Master Plan B&W action to give it the rich and varied tones needed.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION - London

CAMERA - Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 16-35mm Mark II. Aperture f4 – Shutter speed 1/200 at ISO 800.

LIGHTING - A splash of the Canon 580 ex II on the bride and groom.

CREATIVE PROCESS - I was driving to the venue in Central London in the most beautiful classic white Rolls Royce. It was one of the best drives I have ever experienced in my life. We cruised around London for 30 minutes taking in all the famous sites. I kept looking in the mirror for the perfect moment and after I heard the bride say thank you to her now husband I knew the kiss was coming. I fired 2 frames and this is my favourite. I love the three dimensional feel to it with the car and driver in the foreground and the bride, groom and city in the background.

POST PRODUCTION – Photoshop CS4 – This is definitely a black and white moment as all the colours coming from the street were very distracting to the eye. I used one of Yervant’s brilliant black and white actions and then applied curves with some dodging and burning.

Portraits – Photographer Joel Grimes – Website www.joelgrimes.com

LOCATION - This HDR background was shot at the LA Coliseum just south of downtown Los Angeles. Because the stadium is fenced off, I shot through the iron fence. Five exposures in one stop increments and process in Photomatix.

CAMERA AND LENS - Canon 5D Mark II. Background image shot with a Canon 16-35mm 2.8, set at 16mm. (I actuarially shot this images through an iron gated fence.) Portrait image shot in studio with a Canon 24-70mm 2.8 lens, set at 24mm. I always try and set my aperture at f/8 or f/9 because optically this is the sharpest part of the lens.

LIGHTING - The portrait image was shot in a studio using three lights, two side edge lights in medium soft box banks and one overhead 60 inch umbrella. Strobes used were White-lightning Ultra 1600’s. I alternate this lighting setup by using two small soft box banks and a 24 inch octagon bank or a 22 inch beauty dish. Keep in mind the larger the light source is in relationship to the subject the softer the light.

CREATIVE PROCESS - Photography is an illusion, it is not reality and never has been. Where I draw the line on how far I push that illusion may be different from the next artist, but in a way we are all illusionist. My vision as an illusionist, is to create an image that is larger that life. For me, how light strikes a subject or background is paramount. So I take great pains to get my lighting right. I do this by working my lighting from a intuitive, emotional, feeling approach as I preview my image on the back of my cameras monitor. I never use a flash meter, lighting ratios or histograms because a technical instrument can never make a creative decision; this is reserved for the human mind.

POST PRODUCTION - For my composite images I shoot all the backgrounds in HDR. After processing them in Photomatix, I do all my post work in Photoshop CS4. I work both the backgrounds and the subject images using layers and blending techniques I have developed over the past few years. I have some video tutorials on my blog that shows these techniques if anyone is interested.