Mono Light » Portraits

Hannah’s 18th

Graham Law — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:49:42 +0000

Please contact me on gtlaw75@gmail.com if you have any photo work or would like to buy any of the prints on this blog. I’m always open to discussion.

Last weekend I was invited along by Hannah to take some photos at her 18^th party. I was a little apprehensive because its been so long since I’ve used my camera in anger. – as you may be able to tell by the lack of blog activity?

I borrowed Gwyn’s grey background roll and set up a little studio with a couple of speed lights in diffusers plus a kick/hair light all fired off pocket wizards. It worked beautifully once I had the power setting and position of each light set.

Here are just a few of the shots from Friday night…..

They are very low resolution, so if you were there and would like a print please leave me a message below and I’ll get back to you.

Into the Light

Graham Law — Sat, 21 May 2011 10:40:58 +0000

I’m not exactly a regular Blogger! … Some while ago I did my third Workshop with Damien Lovegrove and Martin Hill. Damien had secured the services of the wonderful Vicky Waghorn to do the make up for our two models for the day. The location was Kingscote House Gloucestershire. As delegates we were guided in how to read and use the light that was available on location, and also how to add light to enhance the photo. We shot a variety of locations, to create a selection of frames using Natural, Speedlight, Broncolor and also continuous light from a 1200w Lupo.

Double Speedlights were used to give Rhi punch and to highlight the dress.

A powerful stance and the beautiful sky give this frame the Wow factor

By now we had moved on to using the bigger more powerful Broncolor gear.

Next we moved inside to shoot some natural light frames just using the light from a single window. Katy was such a star for the day. A delight to work with.

We were shown that the un-lit areas of the frame are just as important as the lit areas.

Back outside and using speedlights

We finished off the day using the Lupo1200 on the stairs. Damien can construct a photo from the dullest of locations and give it a real punch.

My next training day is booked with Marko. I’m not ready for this yet, before I go I need to explore the world of Photoshop so that I have some idea what it is about!

Hannah, Ken, Sarah

Graham Law — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:59:42 +0000

Ken and I have been trying to arrange a shoot for some while. A week or so we eventually got together with my Photography buddy Gwyn and took a series of frames in a local industrial area. I’m very pleased with the results. We used either Gwyn’s Lowel continuous light, flash, or a combination of the two + a little natural daylight thrown in. The day after this shoot I flew out to Germany for a couple of days work, and have eventually found some time to process and blog the results.

Next month I’m booked onto a training workshop with one of the leading Photographers in the UK. It will be the third workshop with Damien Lovegrove. The leap in confidence and knowledge I gain just cant be quantified!

The best if the natural light shots I took on the day.

Speedlight Mastery workshop

Graham Law — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:09:17 +0000

What a simply awesome day? I was lucky enough to be able to book on a Damien Lovegrove (link) workshop held in Manchester during August. Damien’s style just blows me away! During the day we shot at about 9-10 locations, and at each one we were shown how the lights were rigged, and adjusted to get the look being aiming for. Most importantly, for me, Damien would help all the delegates to look for and capture the moment of each shot. The fantastic Chloe Jasmine Whichello was our model for the day, and what an inspiration she was? Always on the move, just pose after pose after pose – a real delight to work with.

I was shattered at the end of the day, but my head was spinning with inspiration and enthusiasm for more photography.

First location of the day - The worlds biggest pebble - When Chloe heard this she said 'If thats a pebble, I'd love to see the beach' A shot into the sun, with Flash at full power from the right hand side. 1/250th f22 iso200

Black and white works here too.

A fantastic tiled pub provided the location for a series of shots. Some flash lit, like this one, some natural light reflected form the building opposite, and others with the Orbis ring flash.

A beautiful fine art shot. Just after I took this, Damien noticed thet Chloe's leg was not lit well and adjusted the speedlight. Unfortunatly I didn't have the opertunity to re-shoot.

Natural light shot using a beam of sunlight bouncing off an office block window behind me.

Two point flash lighting. 200/200 f8 - Simples?

This was shot under the Meto Link rail line in Manchester. 60x60 Softbox from the front, and two speedlights with CTB gels proved the blue kick lights. Fashion Magazine front cover? – very nearly? It is great to have locations like this where it doesn’t matter if its raining.

Kick light provided by the sun, and Chloe's desire to climb made this shot.

Single gelled key flash, and the camera stopped right down to almost cut out the daylight. Colour temp was set on the camera to give the cold blue look to the railings. The Gel corrected the colour falling on Chloe.

I can’t wait for my next Lovegrove workshop. Saving hard, and worth evey penny.

Crash Music Festival

Graham Law — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:17:58 +0000

This is the first year the Crash festival has been held. It is in recognition of the 17 who died in a rail crash just outside Abermule in 1921

I was lucky enough to blag my way into a local festival last weekend. This is the first year it has been put on, and I have to say the organisation was fantastic. The Festival was run in a ‘Battle of the Bands’ format where local judges and the audience vote for who they think were the best bands on the day and the winner received a cash prize. There was also a prize for the junior section who were on in the afternoon.

A heavy storm blew over in the middle of the afternoon which paused the fun for half an hour or so, but after sorting a couple of technical stage problems the organisers got everything running again with some very talented musicians performing. I was so busy shooting away I didn’t get a running list of the bands, so I’m afraid I cant blog who they are. Oops! There’s a lesson to learn?

One menber of an early band on stage. I love the composition of this. f2.8 to get the background as out of focus as I could.

Just before the sun set behind the hill I had about 15miniuts of fantastic light. I took the opportunity to wiz round the field taking candid shots of the audience. I would always show my result to the whoever it was I captured, and if they didn't like it I would delete. Yes I know I have the right to keep the shot, but that’s not a good way to get invited back.

A candid shot taken back stage as the heavens opened.

Kick light from a gelled up flash fixed up high. I think a blue gell would have worked better, but hey?

Tried shooting through a lighting stand to get the forgroung out of focus here. Good strong zig zags make this work for me. Again f2.8 on my much loved 70-200mm.

I took a couple of candid shots of this group, showed them, then they wanted to pose. Who am I to refuse? Fantastic back light. F4 at 1/250, ISO400.

Spectacular red hair, nails and lips. A sparkley jacket, and a fantastic voice. This girl has the lot. As I said, I wish I had grabbed a play list and could tell you who the performers are. 1/80, f2.8 and ISO400. . . .getting dark now!

Great sunset over the field. Don’t ever remember seeing such a classic fan of sunbeams as Saturday evening. Such a shame that more people didn’t come along.

For such a new event, the organisation, lighting and performances were 1st class. If anyone is reading this and decided not to go – You missed a treat!

Lets just hope that the event is put on next year, and that more people come along. A full field would have been a superb sight. Why weren’t YOU there?

Portrait shoot with Hannah, Colin and Family friend Ken

Graham Law — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:10:45 +0000

A week last Saturday Gwyn (blog link) and I hooked up with Hannah, Colin and their friend of the family Kenny. The five of us had good fun shooting round Newtown and getting some good frames. Gwyn and I have shot with Hannah and Colin before, but this time it was much warmer so shivering in the street wasn’t necessary! Some of my better frames are below:

Our three cheerful models for the day, Colin, Hannah and on the right Ken.

Beautiful richness of the blue sky mixed with flash under the bridge. 1/200, f11, iso200

Went for B/W here. It was taken under the trees in shade to soften the normal hard shadows from direct sunlight. Also using Gwyn's big refletor to bounce light back into Hannah's eyes.

Almost the same place as the last shot, but look at the harder shadows. I like this frame too because of the sparkle in Hannah's eyes.

Another frame mixing Flash and sunlight. The flash lighting the walls, + Hannah and Colin. The sunlight baklighting the leaves. We had problems here getting all three flashes to fire using the infra red system. But when they did - the shot worked!

Sunlight from the left, a warmed up flash to light the wall in the middle, and another flash in the alley behind Hannah. It works for me!

Passion on the streets of Amsterdam

Graham Law — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:02:11 +0000

Back in May this year I did a shoot in Amsterdam with my good mate Gwyn (link). The shoot was run by Damien Lovegrove. These are just a few of the shoots. Nice photos, but what I learnt about posing couples and using locations was much more valuable.

First Shot of the day, lit with a single speedlight.

Cuban Theme. f3.5 1/125 iso400 7000K

Amsterdam Doorway. Single speedlight, f8 1/200 iso200 WB=Flash

f10 1/200 iso200 WB=Flash 2speedlights either side

f5 1/200 iso100 one speedlight behind couple to give kick light

f16 1/200 iso200 Twin speedlights either side

f4 1/200 iso200. Orbis ring flash. Plain green wall, shot just after lunch in a local bar.

f4 1/200 iso200 Orbis ring flash once again

A cold day, but a warm look. f4.5 1/200 iso200 single speedlight with 1/2ctb gel. WB=8000k to give very warm feel, 1/2CTB gel corrects the skin tones.

Back to using the Orbis Ring Flash. This was taken against a mural in an alley way.