Bloctopussy

I was asked to do a promo shoot for Belfast Roller Derby at the weekend -the aim was to get posters for their next home bout with the theme being Octopussy. First stop was the Original Octopussy film poster and figuring out how to re-create this. It looked like it could be done with four shots layered in Photoshop, using one shot as a base/background and then adding in the extra sets of arms.

I selected the potential arm positions in pairs (four sets) and decided to shoot these in a sequence. The key was going to be to get my male (James Bond) model to stay perfectly still. The setup for the shoot was as follows:

Lighting was provided by 2 Nikon SB-700 flash guns on TTL mode, with shoot-through umbrellas. Canera was set up with 1/160 shutter speed, f 8 and ISO 100 and I was using a Nikon D800 (full manual, RAW files) with a Nikon f1.8 50mm lens. Focus was locked on the models and then switched to manual focus to stop the camera's af changing focus during the sequence of shots and the shutter was triggered with a remote cable release.

We did a total of four run-throughs of the sequence of shots and this sequence was the one which seemed the best:

Some basic adjustments were done in Lightroom (cropping, exposure, saturation) and then synchronised to all four shots before exporting them to Photoshop. Starting with the base photo (above left) I added the next photo as a new layer underneath the background layer and then used the eraser tool to rub through the background, exposing the second set of arms. I then flattened the image and repeated the process with shot three and then shot four. After this, I made some minor adjustments using the dodge and burn tools and also used the dodge tool to make the background completely white. This gave me the final image:

All in all, an enjoyable afternoon's shoot and a reasonably good end product to pass on to the people who are producing the finished posters. I'll try to remember to post an image of the poster once it's available.

Major thanks to to my models Katie and Fintan and to Sarah and Barbie from Belfast Roller Derby who looked after the organisation and managed the shoot on the day.

367-50 Week 15

The week that contains the 100th picture in this project - that's some sort of landmark. I have chosen to celebrate by having a glass of Jameson. What happens after that, the gods will decide. Anyhow, we're a contradictory and self-referential juggernaut on an express elevator to hell

20/02/12

This is my desk in my office in the gloriously titled Chalet beside County Hall, Ballymena. It's really just a big portacabin. Way too hot in the summer and an icebox in the winter. As you will note, I am not the tidiest or most organised person when it comes to work. I have added a few of my pictures to the wall above the desk but sadly you can't see my signed Robbie Fowler Liverpool shirt which hangs on the wall at the door.

21/02/12

Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday - take your pick. I love making pancakes and the recipe is simple. 2 eggs, 200g plain flour and 400ml milk. Whisk until there are no lumps. Heat a knob of butter in a hot pan (about 75% on a normal gas ring) and then pour in enough pancake batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Swirl it about to get an nice even coating of batter on the bottom of the pan. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes then gently ease it away from the pan by shaking or using a spatula. Flip and cook for another 3 mins. Favourite topping is a little sprinkle of sugar and a dash of lemon juice. It's really a crepe.

22/02/12

There's the 100th shot. Practical night at City of Belfast Photographic Society with two really nice models Victoria and Alana. In hindsight, I'd probably have wanted something intensely personal and meaningful for my 100th shot, but hey - here's a pretty girl instead.

23/02/12

Update - managed to get the scales working this morning. Am now weighing in at 14 stone 10 lbs - three more pounds to lose to reach my target weight.

24/02/12

OK - didn't take this tonight but it won third place in the NIPA interclub competition tonight - a starred print for me! Only my second starred print in two years of competitions with NIPA, and I have to admit it was a picture I really loved. You won't see it on the screen resolution, but there's actually a really amazing treatment going on in this shot which you can only see in the big print. My shot of Billy Bragg got an honourable mention and my PDI's did feck all - as usual for my PDI's.

25/02/12

Saturday mornings means clean the dogs' run out - I love the smell of Jeyes fluid in the morning. Meanwhile, the dogs get a hour of running about the garden. The favourite game is "I've got the squeaky ball - chase me." Lasts for hours. That's the small but fast Muffin in front, with the larger and slower (in every sense) Harry bringing up the rear. Jess doesn't join in with this kind of thing - it's below her.

26/02/12

And finally, I loved this shot which I had worked on for the upcoming NIPA round on the subject of shadows. Then I made the mistake of showing it to my children after dinner this evening who soundly rubbished it in terms of not having too much fork and not enough shadow. Back to the drawing board I suspect. Should you be interested in artsy pictures of cutlery, can I recommend the following website:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/babymantis/beautiful-pictures-of-forks-1opu

Thanks as always for stopping by - If you get this far, why not leave me a comment (good, bad or indifferent) - then at least I know that someone is reading this nonsense. See y'all next week, when there's a weekend in Donegal with the gentlemen psychologists, the first training session for marathon team Barbour and the judging of the Shadows round in the Club.

367-50 Week 12

Greetings blog readers. Another week and another seven photos. City of Belfast Photographic Society is part of NIPA (Northern Ireland Photographic Association) and NIPA run a number of competitions each year. We're coming up the last round, which is a themed round with the subject "shadows." It's hard to guess what they're looking for here, and if the "reflections" round was anything to go by, what I think is good and relevant will not be seen as either good or relevant by a NIPA judge. Apologies to anyone associated with NIPA reading this, but honestly, a little more direction or guidance would be handy. Anyway, I'm thinking shadows at the moment and bouncing some ideas around in my head this week.

30/01/12

One photo filter and a wee man from my set of photographers. Definitely got the shadows here big time although the introduction of wee men to NIPA judges has not been a great success so far. Actually it's been a dismal failure thus far and I've thrown some of my good stuff at them. Won't stop me trying 'though.

31/01/12

When opportunities fail to present themselves, one resorts to the wee men or in this case, my wee nuns. These are three particularly tough looking sisters (or sistas) backlit and shot with the Sigma 105mm macro lens. Close Encounters of the Nun Kind?

1/02/12

Getting jiggy with the shadow thing now. Put a metal colander in front of the desk lamp and artistically place......an egg! This felt a wee bit daft, but was worth it I think. It produced a strange kind of look with the lighting and the shadows, and the egg turned out to be a good choice of subject.

2/02/12

This evenings shot was a bit of a rush. It was Trish's birthday and we were going out for a surprise dinner at Cafe Vaudeville. I had about five minutes to set up white card, a flower, the desk lamp and try to get this shot. Shutter priority on 1/60, 200ISO and half a dozen shots to get one that was sharp. A wee touch of processing on the flower to bring out colour/clarity/sharpness and a little blast of black for the shadow.

3/02/12

Again, searching for some table-top shadows projects. Myself and my dark apprentice were playing around with some bits and pieces when I got the idea of creating something that looked a bit like a city skyline out of a box of screws. It's OK I suppose, although the cropping and processing weren't perfect even after a number of tries. However, shadows project keeps on rolling and I've now got quite a few "usable" shots together for the competition round. It's starting to look like I might have a problem choosing which shots I put in.

4/02/12

Ok - this is a wee bit off the track. Saturday afternoon, blue sky and there was the moon as bright as anything. I fantasise about being able to take a good shot of the moon. When I bought my first DSLR I got one of the those pretty shite 70-300mm zoom lenses and spent several nights trying to shoot the moon. All were crap. I've tried on various occasions since, guess what? Crap. Yesterday I shot with my longest lens (70-200mm nikon zoom). I locked up the mirror, bumped the ISO down and then forgot to switch off the Vibration Reduction, which I had intended to do. This was the result - there's a bit of shadow, so it counts in this week's theme.

5/02/12

OK - a wee bit of a ringer here. I've been busy with work all evening and watching Ireland get mugged by Wales in the Six Nations. I took this shot earlier in the week and didn't want to ignore it. This was a nice little set-up using a wooden artists dummy, a desk lamp and a sheet of white card as the background. The dummy's metal stand (and it's shadow) were cloned out in Lightroom and I used a little burn on the dummy to bring out the grain and also to darken the shadow down a little. I'm well chuffed with this.