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.