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.... :)

the drama that was always there.... part 1

10 March 2012
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Pretty and Kamal are one of the most interesting couples we have had the chance to do a photosession with... as usual, we were thinking of building a story around them... a story that they live through everyday... we thought of bringing that story out within a dramatic context... the story would remain the same, but the screenplay would be from a drama series of some sort...

Kamal had been a friend for long.... an old photo-buddy with whom I had many a great moments... and Pretty had become a very close friend of my family through their unique family photo-session... a very couple, we knew we would be able to make some great photos with them... as we were thinking of making drama, we decided to start off with a picture that put them in a dramatic context.... it was to be more like a formal photo, but we thought it would be nice to add a pinch of difference...

so, rather than setting a clean frame, we purposefully made the scene a bit complex... more like the set of a TV drama/movie... we left a big light in the frame with barn doors attached... and also left some of the studio stuff around the corners of the frame.... lighting was critical... we didn't want a flood of light, which would've been enough to undo all the effort that went in to design the set... a total of six lights (1 x Elinchrom Ranger RX, 4 x YN-560, 1 x SB-900) were used in this shot... two lights on camera left in two softboxes ( Lastolite Ezybox 24" Hotshoe & Shashinki 24").... Kamal and Pretty were in different height, thats why one softbox for each of them... one light with grid spot giving Pretty a hair light.... one light on Kamal from camera right to provide an edge light.... one light with blue gel and grid spot on the backdrop to add some drama.... the blue light went through some studio rigging, producing a bit of effect like 'cookies'.... and lastly, the big Elinchrom Ranger RX unit in the frame with barn doors to symbolise a movie setting.... just one Elinchrom Skyport trigger was used here... all other flashes were in optical trigger mode...

a lot more coming up... the story of Pretty and Kamal has just started... :)

damn good shadows... part 1....

03 February 2012
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

personally, I'm not that fond of photos that don't have any shadows in them... in fact, its the shadows that give objects their true shape... the three-dimensional feel of an object is never apparent without shadows... although in some cases I do try to eliminate most shadows, I still try to keep some of it to fulfill my inner desire... at least, it gives sort of a direction to the light.... but there are times when I found shadows more important than the light itself!!.... so important that I went ahead modifying the shadows, rather than modifying light.... well, it sounds silly, as they're just opposite of the same coin... this is the first part of such efforts....

 I'm always heavily influenced by Joe McNally.... he's one of my lighting gurus.... one of the things that Joe does quite regularly at the end of his superb workshops is a shadow projection using the audience.... he sets one light at the end of the hall-room and tells the audience to raise their hands.... that way, he creates a great backdrop for his talent on stage.... and the kind of talents he manages for his workshops are one-of-a-kinds... with McNally behind the camera, you can guess the quality of outputs....

 
I never had the opportunity to use a hall-room for a shoot.... but also never thought that I couldn't do anything without it.... it may not be as easy without the hall-room, yet, it might still work out after all.... with that hope, I thought of creating something for Lamisa that wasn't possible for us in real life (well, at least, not for now).... we created a shadow audience for her and turned her into sort of a star.... oh yes, when she stood with that colourful guitar of her, the audience just went 'gaga'..... well, sort of...

just one YN-560 flash, triggered with an Elinchrom Skyport..... we used the maximum length of the room (no hall-room).... the flash was placed as close to the ground as possible, but not on the ground for obvious reasons.... the shadows were provided by some "hand-made hands" (no real audience was manageable).... the white wall was was the back of the "stage".... the main challenge was to figure out the distance between the light and the props, and between the props and the wall.... it turned out nicely in the end, though we had to adjust quite a bit during the shoot.... a small bit of change in placement of the props meant a huge change of direction of the shadows....

Lamisa had a lot of fun getting to use her "guitar" to her heart's content.... that guitar didn't last longer than that shoot.... actually it was already running on repairs when used during the shoot!!

a lot more coming up.... stay tuned....

back to the big whites.....

10 February 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh

if you had been following our blog, you probably know how Tahani smashed that pile of cream!!.... well, that wasn't the end of the session for her though.... we also wanted some photos of one-year-old Tahani in her playing mood with her own possessions... one very important part of Tahani's session was that she was able to walk, with some help, of course.... we wanted to make sure that particular skill didn't get missed out, as that was actually one of the most important traits of her age....

Tahani was quite at home with her toys.... and she wasn't put off by all that photoshoot arrangements.... that was a huge plus.... but we did have to give way to her to get some rest mid way during the session.... and that rest allowed us to finish the session on a really successful note... Tahani was truly amazing... she was really expressive and spontaneous.... we just ensured that she was within the frame, as that became bit of an issue for some moments.... but we were able to handle that with ease with the help of Tahani's parents, who had been really wonderful....

now the boring technical bit.... for this whole session, we wanted to have a high-key sort of lighting.... no clutter.... hadn't shot on white backdrops for some time.... it was nice to be back to the big whites!!..... for this to work, we set two lights aiming at the white backdrop..... the YN-560s were inside the softboxes without their diffusion covers (a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe and a Westcott 28" Apollo).... the softboxes ensured an even flow of light without falling on our little subject.... and key light was a third YN-560 flash inside a Shashinki 24" softbox.... one Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger was used on one flash and the others were in optical trigger (S1) mode.... the whole shoot was done with a 50mm f1.4 lens on a D700.... took the risk and shot in a fairly shallow DoF (f2.8-f3.2) to get a good enough recycle time with the flashes.... that put a challenge on getting a proper focus, as Tahani wasn't really in her static mood... but it turned out fine, especially because the faster recycle allowed for more moments to be captured...

a lot more to come.....

three lights and a bit of bokeh....

10 February 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Tahani just turned one and it was time for us to prepare.... this strobist assignment had its own challenges and uniqueness.... we prepared ourselves for a cake-smashing event... each one-year-old has his/her own style when it comes to handling a big pile of creamy yummies!!... and we knew that Tahani would have her own style as well... and while Tahani was thinking in her mind what on earth was going on in their house, we proceeded with the set-up!!....

anyway, Tahani didn't get her excitement going at first.... she was more like at a loss.... but after a bit of encouragement from her parents, she got herself going..... and once she proceeded with it, there was no stopping her!!.... before the session was over, she had cream all over her body.... but it was fun like no other.... she had a field day with her freedom.... it was her day and there was nobody to stop her!!

big thanks to Tahani's parents who showed all the enthusiasm and spontaneity to make this session happen.... I was still a bit out of sorts from the prolonged illness... but didn't want the moment to slip away.... that child would have these pictures as a treasure for the rest of her life.... so, I decided to give priority to things that should get priority.... and we are glad that we did....

now the boring tech stuff..... we wanted an illuminated backdrop, but didn't want it absolutely washed out.... there had to be some degree of separation between the backdrop elements and our little subject... the first separation was provided by the aperture; as we used a pretty wide aperture with the 50mm lens on D700.... f3.2 created just enough DoF to put backdrop elements out of focus, yet keeping enough in focus to let us know what they were.... and the second separation was provided by those subdued lights.... two lights on the backdrop.... two YN-560 flashes in two softboxes (Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe and Westcott 28" Apollo).... kept the diffusion on the softboxes to keep harshness away.... the bokeh on the elements needed to be as soft as possible.... using a second light on the backdrop also had the aim of eliminating shadows, which might have made the bokeh a bit harsher and more prominent than desired....

the main light was another YN-560 in a Shashinki 24" softbox.... used only one Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger to trigger one flash.... the others were in optical trigger (S1) mode.... the room had a lot of light, but not enough to give it a good direction... so, we couldn't shoot in available light, rather needed to bring the available light down..... 1/200sec shutter solved most of the problems, although some remained....

a second part of this shoot is coming up..... so, stay tuned!!

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.... part2

27 January 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh

please find part 1 of the blog here.....

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!!

after getting some photos with the car in a dramatized setting, we switched to some old-fashioned relationship frames.... the good-old romantic moods.... classic and timeless.... Ishita and Yeasef really shined here..... their spontaneity reduced our work a lot.... we got rid of all the complexities of lighting and what not.... and relied exclusively on sunlight.... the sun was still in its good self to allow us some direct lighting... probably because it was still winter... so far we were shooting against the sun.... this time we turned around and let the sun  take over....

to bring that classic look, switched to 85mm lens and shot almost wide open @f2.... shutter speed ranged between 1/5000sec - 1/8000sec.... ISO 100.... ya, the sun was really shining!.... even thought of using an ND filter for a while.... but that wasn't needed....

Yeasef proposed that we could explore another probable location nearby.... it supposedly had lots of rose farms.... so, we thought what was there to do on a Friday morning??.... we began the new adventure.... Yeasef was full of spirit, as he always is; loving any kind of adventure.... Ishita was on the opposite pole!!.... and when that search yielded basically nothing, we could feel the real contrast of characters between the two.... after all, thats what we tried to depict.... bring out the contrasts between the two.... and tell the story of their togetherness despite all those contrasts.....

anyway, please have a look at the BTS video of the shoot.... and you can also watch the video of the equipment carried during the assignment....



a lot more coming up in a hurry.....

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.....