the K.A.K. story..... part 2

31 March 2012
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

read the first part of this blog here....

if you had been following the K.A.K. story, you probably know that we had been through a lot of brainstorming... and one of the top considerations in relationship portrayal was 'friends in need'..... our second setup was based on that.... some of the tough moments in individual's life are sometimes taken care of by friends... the relationship of K.A.K. took a deeper meaning every now and then with the advent of such situations.... the ability of the group to solve problems together had always been a strong point of their relationship....

to highlight this, we decided to pick the guy most appropriate for the 'distressed' role!... and from there, it just evolved... we didn't forget to end the theme with some fun... so, we gave Kamal and Kamrul and open cheque!..... :)

lighting was simple for this.... one Elinchrom Ranger RX unit with a 100cm Rotalux "Deep Octa" on camera left.... and a couple of YN-560 flashes bouncing from the white wall on camera right.... trigger was an Elinchrom Skyport... the YN flashes were all on optical trigger mode...

for the third setup, we decided to portray 'fellowship'... its true that it happens to all friend circles... people have their differences... but in the end its friendship that clears everything up and wins the day... friends just end up following a single path even though there's disagreement.... we again needed to pick the right guy to show the dispute or tension.... every friend circle have people with roles... it wasn't that hard to pick, obviously.... the fun factor was important for this setup.... and yes, it was lotta fun! :)

we had two softboxes on two sides.... one Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe and one 24" Shashinki softbox.... two YN-560 flashes in them.... we wanted the light to be a bit moody.... so, we didn't want light all over the place.... the placement of the two softboxes made sure of the low spill of light on the backdrop... camera was Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 28-80mm lens... Elinchrom skyport was the trigger for one flash... the other one was on optical trigger mode....

stay tuned for a lot more.... :)

children + mood + B&W = ?

07 January 2012
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Lamisa and Tabassum are cousins..... we are always on the hunt for some photos when they gather in one place.... the two children are quite contrasting when we talk about their moods..... whereas Lamisa is always on the move and happy to give a happy face, Tabassum is, most of the times, on the moody side of things.... this gives a great opportunity for some contrasty photos when these two get together.... this particular instance was one of those opportunities that we utilised to get some cool moody photos...

if you had been following our video podcasts, you probably have seen our child photography basics video featuring these two.... one of the most important things we talked about in that video was keeping attention of children...... and thats what we concentrated on in the first place when we started this photo-session.... but as the session progressed, we started to get some unique pictures.... by unique, we mean the unique combination of moods produced by the two subjects.... each and every combination produced a different kind of mood in the picture and created opportunity for uniqueness..... but that also created the challenge of constantly keeping attention on both the subjects and to induce them to "produce" some moods....

one of the ways to have a successful "moody" session is to keep other things simple.... we kept a simple lighting setup.... something of bare necessity.... and stuck to it for the whole session.... just one light... Elinchrom Ranger RX + Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" softbox.... the light allowed us (recycle time) to use f8, which allowed for a decent DoF for the two.... [for more on DoF and recycle time, please see our earlier blog post here].... the trigger was Elinchrom Skyport.... D700 was used along with the cheap 28-80mm lens....

this was one of those successful sessions when we were able to keep their attention for a substantial amount of time (29 minutes!!)..... and in the end, I love B&W images.... its not that frequent when I resort to B&W for children photography..... but this time, it seemed more than appropriate to do this.... somehow, the moods of the two blended with the colourless environment.... there was nothing else in the picture other than their moods....

a lot more coming up.....

take a break; enjoy a sunny winter morning.... part1

27 January 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Yeasef's interests in cars and motorbikes meant that this session with Ishita and Yeasef had to have some wheels!!.... well, even though Ishita wasn't too attracted to wheels, her attraction for the man behind the wheels was enough for us to go with this theme....

anyway, the basic idea was to take a break from busy life and go out for a short drive in the mild early morning sun to get some nice pictures.... Ishita and Yeasef both work in the corporate world.... so, taking that precious break seemed like came after an eternity, which is the same for most people working in the corporate world...... and we also wanted to bring some nice memories that the couple can chew along in the coming days.... and to make some nice memories, enjoyment was always a priority.... we had lotsa fun while shooting and also while traveling to-and-fro.... yea, we did travel quite a bit without getting any real benefit!!

we wanted to make some pictures that could both walk with the basic theme (a day off from busy life) and a dramatized story.... yea, we tried to make some drama out of our subjects.... short, but somewhat like a storyboard.... we tried to project on stories that actually happened and also tried to project on 'what if' kinda situations.... waiting is something that almost all couples went through at some point or the other.... so, that where we made our start.... at first, we did the 'what if' and then did the actual scenario.... thats right..... it was Yeasef who had to wait most of the times!!

on a technical note, we were shooting against a bright sun.... it was a winter morning alright... but the sun was quite bright as well..... the idea was to make the best use of the shadows cast by the sun and also to use the sun as edge light wherever possible.... but to achieve this, we needed some pretty strong artificial light.... without that, we risked a completely washed out background.... the Elinchrom Ranger RX unit came to the rescue.... it was with the Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" softbox.... this allowed us to shoot @f16 and 1/200sec 100 ISO....

for the first shots, used a 20mm lens for wide-angle effect.... and for the shots from the side of the car, used a 28-80mm lens on D700..... for the whole shoot, Elinchrom Skyport was the trigger.....

stay tuned for the second part of the blog post.....

playing with time....

07 January 2012
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

remember the gloomy day photoshoot from fifteen months ago?.... no?.... then let me refresh your memories.... we were in the middle of a photoshoot with two of our best models.... Lamisa and Tabassum.... time flies isn't it?.... to us it seemed just yesterday.... now we know that our children are growing.... and the evidence of their gradual progression can only be recorded in a camera.... what a magic machine that is!!

we had to sacrifice something every time we were allocating some time behind some photoshoot.... at that time we feel all the pain, tiredness, and throw a question-mark on the whole thing..... "is it really necessary?".... "what if I take a rest today and do it tomorrow??"..... I'm glad for every single photosession decision that I've taken in my life.... and I'm sad for every single one of them that I missed for one reason (excuse) or the other.... time is our judge.... I can't possibly answer the question in the ailing days -- "what was I doing on that day?? was I that busy??"

every time I find an excuse to pick the camera in my hand, I feel lucky.... lucky to capture time... history... glad that I chose to be a photographer!!

anyway, we wanted to recreate memory.... so, we dressed Lamisa and Tabassum in almost the same fashion we did fifteen months back.... we could see the difference... the children are no longer one-and-a-half year olds... they're now three-year-old preschoolers... they're much more expressive now....

on a technical note, this time the lighting was totally different.... you can see the background dark in the new photos.... this is the effect only a softbox would leave.... it was taken with an Elinchrom Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" softbox..... its punchy light with sharp falloff was quite evident.... and to add to the falloff, the softbox was a bit tilted towards the floor; not 100% parallel to the ground.... the main idea was to take some intimate portraits of the two together..... so, the setup wasn't that perfect to get them dancing around all over the place..... for that kind of shoot, probably the earlier setup was better.... to see the setup of the earlier shoot, please see the earlier blog post.....for this shoot, it was shot on D700 + 28-80mm lens and whole shoot was done at f8... trigger was Elinchrom Skyport....

a lot more to come....

all of that for a single idea....

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....

the flag bearers....

Victory Day
16 December 2011
Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

the moment we had come to know that Pretty and her brother had the most unique of birthdays, we knew we had to do something about it.... and then when we learned that Pretty's dad was a freedom fighter, we thought it would be a huge missed opportunity if we couldn't manage time for an exclusive photo-session.... the Victory Day was coming; so, we planned for the session right away... and when we ultimately met the family and spent some time with them, we knew that we were about to do one of our most important shoots.... it was a privileged evening; some heart-warming moments and an opportunity to tell an exclusive story; a real-life story....

Professor Abdul Halim had been in the Pakistan Air Force when Bangladesh's independence was declared.... he joined the struggle for independence from the very first day and fought in the Tangail and Pabna areas of the country.... he had been one of those early venturers who risked everything and never looked back.... never had a doubt about what he was fighting for.... he remembrances from those fiery days of 1971 ignited that passion in our heart, and we almost forgot that we had a photo-session to do.... his real-life stories we so vivid and earthly, which could easily differentiate with the unreal.... his descriptions were pure, raw, and uncut.... thats history has to be read; unexpurgated.... he still remembers how after the capture of three Pakistan Army vehicles early in the war (probably around April 1971), he was hailed along with his few brave colleagues.... and how people turned against them when they were forced to retreat from Madhupur.... his words are as fresh as they had happened yesterday.... the history is as real as it can get...

Professor Halim's two children carry the flag of the nation which was born after a few like him decided to raise their voices.... Professor Abdul Halim fought off the enemy in 1971 with his gun.... that was just the beginning of another struggle.... the struggle to build a nation.... Pretty was born on 26th March, the Independence Day, and Hameem was born on 16th December, the Victory Day.... they are the children of the sun.... the flag bearers of today.... they carry forward the struggle to build the nation that their proud father dreamed of....

and there is the family.... spending time with Mrs. Halim showed us the value of this proud family.... their struggle to raise this family is an epic one; something that can inspire people.... her descriptions of the early days were vivid and captivating; capable of brining emotions.... these conversations made our stay over there truly worth-it.... Pretty and Hameem are lucky to have parents like that.... our salute!

the photo-session wasn't complete without some intimate portraits of the family.... we saved it for the last part of the session.... but this time, we did a change.... there was no national flag in the back.... the flag was a very important part of the shoot.... and as it was the Victory Day, and Hameem's birthday, it was all the more appropriate....

technically speaking, this group shoot was dependent on some moody light; yet, the contrast had to be lessened.... the main light for the whole shoot was a Elinchrom Ranger RX + Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa" softbox combo.... the power of the Ranger was needed to get enough depth for group portraits.... trigger for the Ranger was the Elinchrom Skyport... to reduce contrast, we set up two YN-560 flashes in optical trigger (S1) mode aiming for the ceiling on the other side.... that light trickled down just about enough to cut contrasts.... two lights allowed for a faster recycle time.... the big size of the room allowed the use of 70-210mm lens, compressing perspective.... yea, we turned their living room into a temporary studio!!

anyway, a lot more to come.... getting little time to complete blogs now-a-days... but hope to catch up soon enough.....

a casual shootout....

13 December 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

we were planning to do a Victory Day (16th December) photo-shoot with Lamisa.... it was still at the planning stage when we thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to produce something for the Martyred Intellectuals Day (14th December).... but we were not really prepared for a time-intensive session.... it was more like a rehearsal for the big shoot ahead.... the rehearsal would be with the national flag... the Victory Day shoot would also feature the national flag as the backdrop, so we thought it would be nice if we could get some practice regarding the setups....

we received lotsa nice feedback regarding the final image that we had shared.... the most striking part of the picture was Lamisa's expression.... that expression took some effort to bring, to be honest... for the three-year old, what could we expect?.... she was much happier to smile in from the camera rather than giving a moody look..... we knew that it created a problem that would trouble us during the upcoming bigger shoot as well, because that shoot also required some moody expressions.... the total shoot lasted 6 minutes!!..... for those who thought these expressions came spontaneously, you have another chance to think about it.... :)

on the technical note, the shoot was done with an 85mm Nikkor on a D700.... to put the background out of focus, I used f2.8.... and also kept a bit of distance between the subject and the backdrop.... so, to gap that distance, I either had to use a separate light for the backdrop or had to use a bigger light to cover it all......I went for the second option.... Elinchrom Ranger RX + Rotalux 100cm "Deep Octa".... the larger softbox ensured enough light on the background as well creating that moody light on Lamisa's face.... Elinchrom Skport was the trigger.... simple, but effective lighting....

a lot more to come....