The Mask

During a trip to Venice I bought a mask as a souvenir, you know one of those masks that are sold everywhere over there. I forgot about this for a while, but one day I found it on a shelf and got an idea to incorporate into my portraits to make those more interesting. I wanted to create something mysterious so decided to go for lowkey.

I used only 2 lights - on camera right and one camera left from behind for a bit of hair and back light. I used a black side of my reflector for background. I only have 1 reflector so there was not anything to bounce the light back for the right side of the model. But I like the results :)

A Pre-Wedding shoot a while ago

It has been a while since the last post on this blog. I have not invested much time in my hobby for the past few months and have been busy with other activities - day job and a few gigs I played with my band (one of my hobbies too :) ).

It is winter here now and the photographic opportunities are fewer than they are in summer. I went through my collection of photos on my pc's hard drive and decided to post a few photos from a pre-wedding shoot I did for friends of mine back in 2010.

An Upgrade

My new system

I have recently upgraded from APS-C system to Full Frame format system. Before the switch I used to have a Canon 40D and 2 lenses, a Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS and a Canon 85mm f/1.8. The system worked fine to me, there probably was not a need for me to make the switch, but I always wanted to test how a full frame system would work for me as a main system. I of course had opportunity to borrow a Canon 5D mk I to do a few shoots, but owning the system had always tempted me.

Pre-wedding shoot for friends

A friend of mine asked me to take a few pre-wedding pictures for his sister and her fiancée last weekend. The couple are from France and would like to take pictures around London.

This was a tough job as London is always crowded with tourists and people especially on the weekends. Hence, we decided to do the shoot early. This will be at 4 locations - Buckingham palace, Westminster, Greenwich and a Park. We decided to wake up very early, at 6am, Yes, 6 am! This will give the bride enough time to prepare for the shoot and set out at 7 am. There were 2 photographers, me and a friend of mine.

Our equipment include a Canon 5D Mk1, a Canon 40D, a Canon 550D and a Nikon D700. Lenses include a Canon 35mm 1.4 L, a Canon 17-55mm 2.8 IS, a Canon 17-40mm 4.0 L, a Canon 85mm 1.8, a Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR.

We estimated to shoot for about 4-5h all together, but ended up shooting for the whole day with many breaks and long waits for the car to come. Unfortunatelly, when we got to Greenwich, there was some filming going on, so we could not do our shoot there and had to skip that. :(

Here are some of my shots from the day:

 

 

 

Trip to Italy

I have had a chance to go on an amazing trip to Italy, such an interesting country with beautiful architecture reserved for several centuries. The best treats - ice cream and coffee :)

These are a few pictures from the trip:

Portraits from the last weekend

A friend of mine asked me to take a few portraits for his profile in his new work place.
This is quite a simple task, what needed were 2 umbrellas and a reflector and of course rearranging the living room. :)

The setup was simple:
 1) 1 bounce umbrella on the camera left at round 45 degrees to and down the subject
 2) a reflector on the camera right
 3) a shoot through umbrella on the camera right behind the subject for hair light and a little bit of separation from the background.

I used 2 speedlights - canon 580ExII at 1/4 power for the front light and a yong nuo 460II for the back light at 1/16.

Here are a few from the session:

A trip to Sapa - Vietnam

Sapa is one of the must see places in Vietnam. It is situated on the North of Vietnam and near to border with China. It has got a beautiful scenery and very nice people.