Three special shoots explained....
December 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
December 2011 was a busy time for us.... not just with location shoots, but also with shooting at our studio.... our aim was to create some theme-based photos that would talk.... and for obvious reasons, we chose to make Lamisa as our model..... for a three-year old, the themes may seem a bit too matured.... but we took the challenge anyway.... working with children over some time taught us that it is always possible to bring some out-of-the-ordinary outcomes if the effort is there.... so, we went about the projects in our minds and ultimately they spawned into some of our most favourite pictures!!
Victory Day Shoot.....
the first one was with the 16 December Victory Day theme..... we thought about bringing that sad look in the photo.... just like the most famous song for the special day.... "sob kota janala khule dao na".... a look that would portray a wait; a wait for the fallen heroes of the soil.... that wait had to be in front of an open window, which would symbolise freedom.... and the picture won't be complete without the national flag...
it was a two-day effort to produce the whole thing.... the shoot was much more challenging than preparing the set.... the lighting was kept to bare simplicity.... one light only.... a big light, that would be enough to light our subject, the window, as well the flag, which would be 'behind' the window... used the Elinchrom Ranger + Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" combo..... the light is not only big, it also does something that other lights can't.... its quite punchy!!.... it doesn't wipe off all the shadows, keeping the mood in the photos... Elinchrom Skyport was used to trigger the light.... I was shooting with a 50mm f1.4 lens on D700.... wasn't intending to keep the windows tack sharp in the image.... so, used a fairly big aperture of f3.5....
now, the big question..... how on earth did we manage that expression from a preschooler??.... well, thats a lot more complicated than can be explained here.... suffice it to say that it took some effort.... Lamisa was not really comfortable sitting behind the window.... and it was particularly difficult to make her keep her hands on the windows.... and the icing on the cake was the expression.... didn't come easy.... at one point, we became a bit impatient too.... but in the end, it was a success!!
Mercury Dropping Shoot.....
the next one was almost an instant decision to bring about.... as it shows, it all came up from the sudden drop in temperatures sometime around the third week of December.... it required a one-day effort to pull it off.... was less challenging than the earlier Victory Day shoot.... again, kept the technicalities to simplicity.... just one light.... a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe softbox combined with a YN-560 flash.... Elinchrom Skyport was the trigger.... used a 50mm 1.4 lens and shot pretty much wide open ~f2.8 on a D70s...this is an old camera that I just acquired recently... and this was a nice shoot to prove that old cameras don't die that easily!!.... 50mm on the D70s produced a nice perspective @75mm equivalent.... a good focal length for portraits....
Lamisa's expression was more of a result of spontaneity than anything else.... as usual, we provided the aid to bring an expression... but ultimately it comes down to the split-second moment when the shutter closes...
New Year Shoot....
now comes the last effort of 2011.... we wanted to have two images made... one would be a sad mood related to a goodbye for 2011... and the other would be welcoming 2012.... it was another two-day effort.... set preparation was done without a lot of difficulty.... but the actual shoot with the sad expression proved a bit of a challenge... it didn't seem too difficult to us as we had already achieved a much tougher project like the Victory Day shoot....
the shoots used two different perspectives... one would show 2011 going out of the frame with Lamisa in the background staring with a sad face.... to show this, I used a wide setting and a very low vantage point... @28mm, and so close to the prop, had to use as small an aperture as possible to have enough DoF.... was shooting @f11... it wasn't an ideal aperture for this kind of a DoF requirement, yet, it was sufficient for the shoot.... the main light was again the Elinchrom Ranger + Rotalux 100cm Deep Octa combo.... but this time, I wanted to cut the shadows.... so, placed three YN-560 flashes in optical trigger mode shooting at the ceiling in the opposite direction.... the three lights ensured a good enough recycle time for the shoot.... when shooting with children, recycle time is always important.... otherwise you may miss that precious moment....
for the second photo, used the same light setup.... only the props were changed and some change in wardrobe for Lamisa.... this time, the whole perspective was different... 2012 was 'moving in' and Lamisa was happy seeing it, as it brought hope.... @31mm, the whole setting was comfortably in the frame... used the cheapie 28-80mm lens on D700 for the whole shoot... trigger was Elinchrom Skyport for the main light... and optical trigger (S1) for the YN-560s....
the second photo was much more natural for Lamisa... and it was much less complicated given the effort to bring that expression....
a whole lot more to come....
December 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
December 2011 was a busy time for us.... not just with location shoots, but also with shooting at our studio.... our aim was to create some theme-based photos that would talk.... and for obvious reasons, we chose to make Lamisa as our model..... for a three-year old, the themes may seem a bit too matured.... but we took the challenge anyway.... working with children over some time taught us that it is always possible to bring some out-of-the-ordinary outcomes if the effort is there.... so, we went about the projects in our minds and ultimately they spawned into some of our most favourite pictures!!
Victory Day Shoot.....
the first one was with the 16 December Victory Day theme..... we thought about bringing that sad look in the photo.... just like the most famous song for the special day.... "sob kota janala khule dao na".... a look that would portray a wait; a wait for the fallen heroes of the soil.... that wait had to be in front of an open window, which would symbolise freedom.... and the picture won't be complete without the national flag...
it was a two-day effort to produce the whole thing.... the shoot was much more challenging than preparing the set.... the lighting was kept to bare simplicity.... one light only.... a big light, that would be enough to light our subject, the window, as well the flag, which would be 'behind' the window... used the Elinchrom Ranger + Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" combo..... the light is not only big, it also does something that other lights can't.... its quite punchy!!.... it doesn't wipe off all the shadows, keeping the mood in the photos... Elinchrom Skyport was used to trigger the light.... I was shooting with a 50mm f1.4 lens on D700.... wasn't intending to keep the windows tack sharp in the image.... so, used a fairly big aperture of f3.5....
now, the big question..... how on earth did we manage that expression from a preschooler??.... well, thats a lot more complicated than can be explained here.... suffice it to say that it took some effort.... Lamisa was not really comfortable sitting behind the window.... and it was particularly difficult to make her keep her hands on the windows.... and the icing on the cake was the expression.... didn't come easy.... at one point, we became a bit impatient too.... but in the end, it was a success!!
Mercury Dropping Shoot.....
the next one was almost an instant decision to bring about.... as it shows, it all came up from the sudden drop in temperatures sometime around the third week of December.... it required a one-day effort to pull it off.... was less challenging than the earlier Victory Day shoot.... again, kept the technicalities to simplicity.... just one light.... a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe softbox combined with a YN-560 flash.... Elinchrom Skyport was the trigger.... used a 50mm 1.4 lens and shot pretty much wide open ~f2.8 on a D70s...this is an old camera that I just acquired recently... and this was a nice shoot to prove that old cameras don't die that easily!!.... 50mm on the D70s produced a nice perspective @75mm equivalent.... a good focal length for portraits....
Lamisa's expression was more of a result of spontaneity than anything else.... as usual, we provided the aid to bring an expression... but ultimately it comes down to the split-second moment when the shutter closes...
New Year Shoot....
now comes the last effort of 2011.... we wanted to have two images made... one would be a sad mood related to a goodbye for 2011... and the other would be welcoming 2012.... it was another two-day effort.... set preparation was done without a lot of difficulty.... but the actual shoot with the sad expression proved a bit of a challenge... it didn't seem too difficult to us as we had already achieved a much tougher project like the Victory Day shoot....
the shoots used two different perspectives... one would show 2011 going out of the frame with Lamisa in the background staring with a sad face.... to show this, I used a wide setting and a very low vantage point... @28mm, and so close to the prop, had to use as small an aperture as possible to have enough DoF.... was shooting @f11... it wasn't an ideal aperture for this kind of a DoF requirement, yet, it was sufficient for the shoot.... the main light was again the Elinchrom Ranger + Rotalux 100cm Deep Octa combo.... but this time, I wanted to cut the shadows.... so, placed three YN-560 flashes in optical trigger mode shooting at the ceiling in the opposite direction.... the three lights ensured a good enough recycle time for the shoot.... when shooting with children, recycle time is always important.... otherwise you may miss that precious moment....
for the second photo, used the same light setup.... only the props were changed and some change in wardrobe for Lamisa.... this time, the whole perspective was different... 2012 was 'moving in' and Lamisa was happy seeing it, as it brought hope.... @31mm, the whole setting was comfortably in the frame... used the cheapie 28-80mm lens on D700 for the whole shoot... trigger was Elinchrom Skyport for the main light... and optical trigger (S1) for the YN-560s....
the second photo was much more natural for Lamisa... and it was much less complicated given the effort to bring that expression....
a whole lot more to come....
