Monday 30 July 2012
Saturday 21 July 2012
The Eagleton family shoot and cake smash....
We loved doing the Eagleton family shoot at the start of this month.
Young Burger was about to turn 1 and so we did a Cake Smash along with
the family photos. In order to do this shoot we went to their home and
converted part of their lounge into a studio, complete with white
backdrop and shoot-through umbrella, using a speedlight and a reflector.
At SGM Productions, Dee (my wife) and I love capturing natural moments wherever possible. We like to first set up a shot or a pose the client(s) and then just let things happen naturally after that.
Shooting with young children is a highly fluid situation and you can forget most of the carefully planned shots and scenes within the first few minutes of shooting (things never go exactly according to plan and quite frankly, we prefer it that way). Set up a shot and then just go with the flow. The best shots from this shoot just kind of happened on their own although.
We did use some "peekaboo" moments to try to get young Burger to smile sometimes, he was so serious. The Cake Smash also did not go quite as planned as Burger was more intent on trying to put the cake back together and neaten it up LOL...
At any rate great fun was had by all and I am sure that you will agree that we got some awesome shots... one thing is for sure, Burger loves bath time...
To set up a family shoot, e-mail us at sgmproductions@gmail.com
At SGM Productions, Dee (my wife) and I love capturing natural moments wherever possible. We like to first set up a shot or a pose the client(s) and then just let things happen naturally after that.
Shooting with young children is a highly fluid situation and you can forget most of the carefully planned shots and scenes within the first few minutes of shooting (things never go exactly according to plan and quite frankly, we prefer it that way). Set up a shot and then just go with the flow. The best shots from this shoot just kind of happened on their own although.
We did use some "peekaboo" moments to try to get young Burger to smile sometimes, he was so serious. The Cake Smash also did not go quite as planned as Burger was more intent on trying to put the cake back together and neaten it up LOL...
At any rate great fun was had by all and I am sure that you will agree that we got some awesome shots... one thing is for sure, Burger loves bath time...
To set up a family shoot, e-mail us at sgmproductions@gmail.com
Monday 16 July 2012
Extreme macro bee photography
When it comes to capturing bees, extreme macro photography is not for sissies. Why? Well its quite simple really, those insects have very painful stings and in order to get this kind of magnification, one has to get the lens as close as 6cm from your subject. This can sometimes aggravate them....
Solution, photograph them very early in the morning when its still cool, there are less bees and they are more sluggish.... These pics where taken with a 50mm prime lens on top of another 50mm prime lens (Nikon) in order to provide the magnification without sacrificing sharpness. Enjoy....
Solution, photograph them very early in the morning when its still cool, there are less bees and they are more sluggish.... These pics where taken with a 50mm prime lens on top of another 50mm prime lens (Nikon) in order to provide the magnification without sacrificing sharpness. Enjoy....
Sunday 15 July 2012
Starlit Sky Band location shoot
Photographing the band Starlit Sky was very easy and above all, fun for me. I have known most of the band members for years and we had so much fun doing the pics that we all did not want to stop.
For once we where not rushed for time and I could really experiment with different techniques. I think we spent about 4 hours shooting....
You can check out their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/starlitskyband
I set up a studio using a black (for low key) and then a white backdrop (for high key), a Nikon SB 700 flash and shoot through umbrella, radio triggers and a silver reflector at band member, Kevin Wilson's home. Between the props, hats, jacket and shirt changes it reminded me more of a photo booth shoot at a wedding at stages... I cant remember laughing so much or so long in ages...
At one stage I set up the flash behind the subject and then used a silver reflector to bounce light back creating a very different and cool effect...
I love the low key images of the band accomplished by using the black background and moving the flash to the right to throw directional light from the side. I kept the flash quite high (near the roof) in the beginning and later placed it a bit lower. I shot in manual mode on the flash and the camera for speed and accuracy. At times I went up to ISO 400 but mostly tried to use a lower ISO where possible....
I used an 18 to 55mm Nikon lens for all of the shots... For the high key shots I changed to the white background and moved the flash to a 45 degree angle on the right hand side and quite high and increased the power to 1/2. to make the background whiter.
To book a photo shoot E-mail sgmproductions@gmail.com
The effect of the first image was done in camera using the flash to freeze the frame while using a slow shutter speed and then moving the camera in a circular motion. I think that I used a shutter speed of about 4 seconds.... I then used many layers in photoshop to boost saturation, add contrast and give a more grainy, gritty feel to the images.... By using a black and white layer and playing with the red and blue sliders and then changing the blending mode to soft light it really makes the image pop. I also used a sepia layer set to soft light on top of that....
www.sgmproductions.weebly.com
sean@sgmproductions.co.za
For once we where not rushed for time and I could really experiment with different techniques. I think we spent about 4 hours shooting....
You can check out their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/starlitskyband
I set up a studio using a black (for low key) and then a white backdrop (for high key), a Nikon SB 700 flash and shoot through umbrella, radio triggers and a silver reflector at band member, Kevin Wilson's home. Between the props, hats, jacket and shirt changes it reminded me more of a photo booth shoot at a wedding at stages... I cant remember laughing so much or so long in ages...
At one stage I set up the flash behind the subject and then used a silver reflector to bounce light back creating a very different and cool effect...
I love the low key images of the band accomplished by using the black background and moving the flash to the right to throw directional light from the side. I kept the flash quite high (near the roof) in the beginning and later placed it a bit lower. I shot in manual mode on the flash and the camera for speed and accuracy. At times I went up to ISO 400 but mostly tried to use a lower ISO where possible....
I used an 18 to 55mm Nikon lens for all of the shots... For the high key shots I changed to the white background and moved the flash to a 45 degree angle on the right hand side and quite high and increased the power to 1/2. to make the background whiter.
To book a photo shoot E-mail sgmproductions@gmail.com
The effect of the first image was done in camera using the flash to freeze the frame while using a slow shutter speed and then moving the camera in a circular motion. I think that I used a shutter speed of about 4 seconds.... I then used many layers in photoshop to boost saturation, add contrast and give a more grainy, gritty feel to the images.... By using a black and white layer and playing with the red and blue sliders and then changing the blending mode to soft light it really makes the image pop. I also used a sepia layer set to soft light on top of that....
www.sgmproductions.weebly.com
sean@sgmproductions.co.za
Hard to believe that this is an in-camera effect....
This is a high key shot using directional light and a reflector on the left to bounce back some light....
This is another low key shot of Kevin Wilson which used a higher ISO and faster shutter speed.
Band leader Sheldon Muller leaning into the lens which was at 18mm...
A nice high key shot
A high key shot taken from a low angle at 18mm
For this shot I moved the flash behind Tim and used a silver reflector to bounce light back into his body
I love this effect,, hard to believe that it is an in camera shot....
This is also an in-camera shot using multiple layers in photoshop including a colour gradient filter set to soft light
Clinton Lehman showing off the tools of his trade
Another in-camera shot of Clinton using the flash and slow shutter speed to good effect. I really love this effect.
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