Beneath The Sun
With all the sunshine we are having I decided to put together a shoot, not only was I looking forward to taking advantage of the beautiful weather but I was also excited to put my newly acquired Phase One XF medium format camera and IQ160 digital back to the test!
In the weeks prior to the shoot I scouted a great location and found various spots to use, I knew it would be a clear blue sky for most of the day and thought it would be nice to have a bit more in the background, so Georgina (the makeup artist for this shoot) and I took a trip up to the Lake District where I shot some landscapes that could be implemented into some of the images from the shoot later on in post.
On the day of the shoot I met Danielle our model from Bookings Models, the lovely Laura Moss who had agreed to come along and style the shoot for me and a good photographer friend of hers Amy who had come along to assist for the day. After the hair and makeup was done and we had agreed on the clothing we set off for the first location which was a beautiful open field near to a phone tower, see below.
Final image - taken at: f/8 - ISO 50 - 1/200s with a 55mm Schneider Kreuznach Lens
For another variation I got Danielle to lie down in the field, lowered the strobe and moved it over to camera left.
We worked through various poses as I wanted the image to feel posed but still natural.
Final image - taken at: f/7.1 - ISO 50 - 1/200s with a 55mm SK Lens
We then changed outfit and moved to the second spot which was literally a few paces to the left of where we were previously shooting which was lucky because it was an extremely hot day and the less moving around we did the better. The second spot was a long path in-between both fields that had caught my eye whilst scouting, I knew I would be compositing the images I took at the Lake District mainly on this set up so I made sure to use the same 55mm lens I used when taking the landscape images to help the composite feel more natural.
For this shot we started out with some movement before moving on to more posed shots, Danielle was amazing at moving and made it easy to capture the images I was hoping for. For this image I placed my strobe to camera left and shot from the shadow side. In front of the monitor is our stylist Laura and assistant Amy making sure the shots are looking great.
Final image - shot taken at: f/6.3 - ISO 50 - 1/800s with a 55mm LS lens
For the close up shot below I kept the same camera settings but I switched to my 80mm LS lens
Happy with the shots we had we moved onto the next location which was a bridge over a small stream that I had come across whilst scouting a few weeks before the shoot.
For this set up I switched to my Canon 5D Mark III and shot the image using entirely natural light as I didn't feel any artificial light was needed.
I used my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro Lens to get an image as close as possible, I then cropped in on the final image in post. Georgina remained on the bridge with Danielle so I could relay directions over speaker phone.
Here is the final image - shot taken at: f/10 - ISO 400 - 1/125s
Our next set up brought us to a lake which had a beautiful opening between some trees leading out onto the water.
For this image I placed my strobe to the right of Danielle, high up and angled downwards to create more contrast.
Final image taken at: f/5.6 - ISO 100 - 1/320s with a 80mm Schneider Kreuznach LS Lens
The final location for the day was a large bridge surrounded by trees on either side.
Again Danielle's ability to give fantastic movement came into play. To say the bridge was hot is an understatement, still we managed to keep shooting and were able to capture some fantastic images.
Final image taken at: f/4.5 - ISO 50 - 1/250s with a 80mm LS Lens
I had an amazing time on this shoot and loved working with a great team.
Model: Danielle Zarb-Cousin (Bookings models)
Wadrobe Stylist: Laura Moss
Hair & Make-up: Georgina Davies
Assistant: Amy Fry
This shoot was published for Elegant Magazine.
