Location Four: Industrial Environmental Portrait Indoors

PRE LIGHTING REPORT + ANALYSIS


For this final shoot the location is the Mechanical engineering department, located in the bowels of the Dawson college campus. Existing lighting here is the usual industrial fluorescent banks along the ceiling. I have a hunch after I looked at my polaroids, that the fluorescent tubes they use here are of the warm white variety, which have a warmer colour temperature and have better colour rendering properties. I didn't find there was any exceptional green cast to Pat's skin tone and I didn't even have to modify the white balance in Lightroom. So with that evidence, my original plan to use green balancing gels on my lights, may need to be tested on a few test shots before deciding the right route to take with or without the gels. I will shoot tethered so I can see on my computer, the colour effect I'm getting on the day of the shoot.

1. The existing ambient in the room is quite bright and uniform but my meter readings on the ambient light ranged from 2.8 - f 4 so to boost the light to a reading closer to f 8 I will use mono block strobes as my main lighting primarily for texture and dimension on the subject and background.

2. Originally I thought I would go with a "normal" mm lens as in my polaroid I shot at 40mm on my 24mm - 85mm Canon zoom lens. I figure 40 - 44 mm is about how my eye naturally takes in a scene. I would like to try using a canon 2.8 / 100mm fixed lens as a portrait lens and pull back some to get details in the subjects' relationship to the machine, pull the background closer, and be able to shoot at a faster shutter speed. On the shoot day I will take along both so that I have the choice of either lens.

3. I plan on setting my aperture to between f 5.6 and f 8 so that I can achieve a sharper overall image. I usually try to avoid shooting at my lens's widest aperture and I like the sweet spot of f 7.1 - f 8.0. For my polaroid shooting in existing light I had my lens at f 4 for the expsure at ISO 1600 and the background is soft. I do generally like the mood that a wider aperture imparts but for this particular shot I want the metal materials in the background to be relevant to the workers surroundings and to suggest that these are the materials he sources for his cutting machine. It does make for a busier image but this is a busy job after all.

4. As I am using Flash heads and can modify them accordingly , I will be shooting at a sync shutter of 1 / 200th - 1 / 250th sec. If I do use the 100mm lens 2.8 I will have the option as well of a higher speed if I choose in porportion to my f stop as it is a faster lens than my zoom.

5. If I do shoot at f 5.6 to f 8, without the use of flash I won't be able to achieve these settings unless  I boost my ISO a lot higher than 400.

6. I think Three strobes on hand should be more than enough to get the results to achieve these settings.

7. No I do not  feel I have too much light to achieve these settings

8. Technical problems that I anticipate would be mostly in relation to the back ground as I plan on fleshing out the metal on the shelving behind my subject to give it texture and I am not sure how all the surfaces will reflect the side source directional flash. Something I will have to work out on set as we couldn't use lighting in the pre light test shot. I will have to be aware of any flare situations that this may create or clipping in the final image.
I did find in the pre light that this machine is very horizontally oriented and that there is a lot of visual "pollution" around it. This situation makes it a challenge to present the machine in a visually dynamic way and show a larger portion of the machine in the image. Which explains why I chose to shoot portrait as opposed to a larger landscape composition. I would like to try and use the negative space of the machine for more impact - as in maybe shooting on such an angle that the background can be seen through the spaces of the machine itself. I will have to shoot from a lower angle closer to the floor to achieve this.

9. As previously discussed I will take along some green gels for the strobes and test them out
on the set. I always do a grey card polaroid and set my camera to that exposure's white balance.

10. All Equipment listed below

11. Another assignment thankfully where the access to the premises was taken care of in advance by the photography department, so we will not be needing any permits or special permission.

PRE LIGHTING POLAROID

PRE LIGHTING DIAGRAM

Light reading from foreground to background f 4 to f 2.8

EQUIPMENT LIST

• 1 Canon 5D Mark II D dlsr
• 1 canon 24 - 85 mm lens
• 1 4 G CF card
• 1 Tripod
• 2 x Profoto kit
• 1 x radio trigger -1 transmitter 3 x receivers 
• 2 x reflector bowl in pro foto case
• 1 x Large Chimera soft box
• 1 x speedring adaptor for soft box
• 3 x black light stands
• 3 x extension cords
• 1 x Sekonic lightmeter
• 2 - 4 x black gobos  lrg + small
• 4 x clamps
• 2 x cc green gels
• 1 x grey card 
• 2 x pocket mirror
• 1 x Macbook pro and capture app
• 1 x 12ft tether usb cable
• masking tape
• butyl
• carry all on wheels
• Small portable flashlight

FINAL IMAGE 

SHOOT REPORT + ANALYSIS

FINAL LIGHTING DIAGRAM

Location Three: Environmental Portrait Outdoors

Final Image - Shoot Report + Analysis

Original Lighting Emulation Image

Final Shoot Report

On the day of my final shot the sun was blessedly shining. I waited through three weeks of cold, snow and drudgery for that sun. There was still a chill in the air and I had every model I proposed this shoot to decline... Everyone said it was too cold for an outside location. Generally if people are not getting paid, they do not have the motivation to model in cold weather.

So I managed to persuade Scott to stand in for me. This was not ideal either as friends who are not being paid will not tolerate much finessing of the image and tend to be less shy about being more grouchy than someone you do not know who at least usually tries to be nice. Scott is my good friend but not a good model at all, despite his knowing the pitfalls of photography ... he didn't cut me any slack. As well Scott does not have the proportions I was wanting for this shot but I do think he is awfully cute and usually very sweet.

I did use the sunshine as my main light source and used three flash units as fill light.
I used my 580 Ex II on camera and the other two flashes on either side of Scott. ( see diagram)
In the pre light I only had two flashes and I was very happy I brought along a third as I think this was the clincher to get the lighting as close to the simulation image lighting as possible.

I used the Canon 7D which has a very handy off camera flash sync capability setting and that meant I didn't have to tinker around with my trigger and receivers - although I had them with me and ready if needed.

I did end up shooting at f 10 but at ISO 320 ( to get some detail in the shadows ) at 1/100th of a sec. The sun was very bright but at that time of day it fades very quickly so I had to work fast.

The main  light was beautiful coming from the west and setting on the sides of the bridge which gave a nice definition and highlight to both my subject and the bridge. I had difficulty avoiding lens flare due to the strength and angle of the sun so I used the on site Pylon again and that worked really well if i positioned myself low and behind.

When I finished this excruciatingly tense photo session, I was very discouraged looking at my results... I thought I wanted to give up photography altogether and that essentially I really am a shit photographer. Maybe it was the general mood du jour. Anyway when I downloaded les images, looking through I realised I could salvage this circumstantially shit shoot... I knew it would be impossible to find anyone else to pose for me and I could not put Scott through that again. ( In the photo it looks quite warm but it was only about 1 degree and I wanted the t-shirt to show skin tone as in the simulation photo.)

The problem which I had anticipated with the sky being boring was in fact relevant. I photoshopped the hell out of that sky. Some would say the clouds are excessive for the shot or not real but I like the drama the new sky gives... and it makes an otherwise unhappy memory happy again.

This photo shoot made me realise how much budget I will have to have to do location shooting in cold weather... not for the equipment but for an ideal model that doesn't want to get cold or heavens forbid wet ... for the shot.

Final Lighting Diagram

Camera to subject distance is approximately 10 to 12 feet

Pre Lighting Report + Analysis

1. I plan to use the available daylight ( ambient ) as my main light. As I will be shooting in the afternoon, the sunlight ( if there is indeed sun ) will then be well on its course to setting in the west, which will be to the camera left - subject right. This will create an available light hairlight and bathe the subject from the right side.

2. my lens choice is a 24 -85mm set at the pre test focal length of 24 mm wide. This will be sufficient to create some drama in the perspective as I plan on shooting this shot on the horizontal so that the dynamism of the bridge will be highlighted in the background.

3. Depending on the lighting conditions on the day of the final shoot I plan on using an aperture of around f8 to f 10 so that the subject and the bridge will be in focus as the location is just as important as the subject.

4. I always try to shoot at a shutter speed of at least 1/80th to 1/100th. Depending on the light I   will use a minimum shutter speed of 1/200th to sync with my portable flash units.

5. as my Location is wide open to the light which filters across the horizon under the bridge I     feel I will have enough available light to achieve these settings.  

6. I will have three portable flash units on hand and judging by my pre light test using just two flash units in a very rainy overcast environment, I should be well served by this lighting choice  to fill in any exposure on the ambient lighting

7. I do not feel I have too much light to achieve these settings and if I did I would just set my flashes on manual and power them down accordingly.

8. Technical problems are primarily concerned with gobo-ing the two side strobe lights. On the day I will bring some foam core card stock panels to use; for my pre lighting exercise I used a large construction Pylon which was within reach and readily dragged to where I could locate the flash slightly behind in order to gobo the flash in order to avoid lens flare which happened in the pre light polaroid. As I am exposing for my subject under the bridge I might experience a slight over exposure of the sky in the slots of the bridge. I am thinking if the sky on the day doesn't look impactful or textured enough, I may extract it in post and layer in an appropriate one.

9. Color balance will be achieved by taking a proper light reading on a grey card and setting my camera white balance on custom related to the grey card in the image.

10. This Location is iffy... that is to say if anyone asks me what the hell I am doing there... I don't even mention the name Val or Dawson. If this was a professional shoot for money I would have to go through the City of Montreal and possibly Hydro Quebec to get permission to shoot here and it would probably not pass permission so I am going to trespass to get the shot, but you didn't see that here.

Equipment List

1 Canon 7D

1 Canon 24 - 85mm 3.5 zoom lens 

1 x 8 Gb extreme Platinum CF card

1 Sekonik light meter 

3 x light stands

1 x Tripod

3 x Portable flash units : 1 Canon 580 EX II +  2 Canon 430 EX II

1 x Yungnuo R 602 Trigger

3 x Yungnuo R 602 Receivers

3 x Umbrella mounts with cold shoe adaptor for receivers and flash heads

16 x rechargeable AA batteries for the flash and extra

1 x  reflective bounce umbrella ( just in case I need it )

1 x ground sheet for equipment and if I need to get down on the ground to shoot

several garbage bags and zip baggies in case of moisture or rain

4 x 4' x 3' foam core sheets as Gobos

3 x spring clamps 

1 x equipment trolly

1 x lightstand  + tripod bag

2 x roscolux gels sample books

1 x mirror

1 x flashlight

Pre Lighting Test Polaroid

ISO 200 1/60th @ f 3.5 Focal Length 24 mm

Preliminary Lighting Diagram for Test Polaroid

Alternative Location Polaroid

This is the alternative location literally on the other side of the street from my projected location

Location Two: Food Product on Location

Final Photo - Shoot Report + Analysis

Final Shoot Report

The Pepsi challenge is now complete... not sure if we won or not, that is up to the ref. Maybe a tie??

We pretty much followed the plan outlined in the pre light analysis. Shoot position and ISO were the prominent changes made to our original analysis. As we had more room we changed the direction of the shoot 180* degrees so that we were shooting with the wall on the left as opposed to the right. 

With the addition of lighting equipment set up we were able to pull off the projected 100 ISO  on 1/2 sec shutter speed @ f4. All lighting equipment we brought was used on modelling setting. No flash was used. We used a 50mm fixed lens.

We used the softbox as main and a snoot from behind to left of salad as a skim fill to add texture to the salad. A small hand held mirror was used as a fill light reflector on the front of the bowl. A black gobo greeked out reflections coming from the snoot lamp.

We tethered the camera and dropped the final image into the layout on set to verify that the final shot would fit the layout well.

We needed to have the Salad height at about six feet to avoid the chair-rail in the background and have just the pools of light on the orange wall as background. we used a breakdown table as a platform for the camera on tripod mount to aide in the height requirement.

The final Image could have used an extra object to fill and complement the layout with respect to the salad bowl and salad; perhaps a good quality napkin or a fork in the short foreground.

Generally happy with the texture, colour and look of the salad. The background as pointed out by Val has some "blooming" problems, at such a low shutter speed the light wells clipped into  the highlights in an un - advantageous way for printing. A possible solution to this problem would be to expose for the wall and salad separately with adjustments then merge for final image composite.

Final Lighting Diagram

Pre - Light Report + Analysis


So the food on location challenge is on and what better place to try and win the challenge but at a restaurant / bar in the Former Montreal Forum. Appointed to the auspicious sounding V.I.P Lounge and assigned a simple house salad for our assignment, we surveyed the room and it's potential as a fitting backdrop to the drama needed by the humble salad.

Available lighting in the room is mainly track lighting and one table lamp in the room as well as hanging fixtures over the pool tables.

I managed to squeeze in about three potential scenario backgrounds. A stand in prop for the salad was a folded and jujed up cloth napkin in the bowl we were given. Not ideal I admit, considering it is white and will not give a realistic outcome for a test "polaroid". The height is not a good fit for layout purposes as well as the salad will most likely have a somewhat lower
profile in the bowl. But you work with what ya got. so we did.


POLAROIDS

These are the three polaroids I did dropped into the layout:

ISO 1600 1/60th @ f4 44mm

ISO 3200 1/25 @ f 4.5 62mm

This choice is the winner due to its simplicity and the background not interfering with the text of the layout. I also appreciate that the ambiance of the pot lighting against the orange wall imparts a simple yet dramatic setting for the salad model.

ISO 1600 1/60 @ f 5.6 focal length 24 mm

A big negative for this choice is that the ambient light is more beautiful on the background and not as giving to the area where the Hero salad will be relative to the background. 

As we did not do a pre light with actual lighting equipment and I was hand shooting, I had to shoot at a high ISO on an undesirable f stop to get the ambient light to register on the salad. It looks flatly unappealing with a greenish cast on the porcelain of the bowl's edge.

ANALYSIS

For the layout I will try to fit the salad in more prominently ... perhaps with a longer focal length and I will definitely crop to the layout so more of the spills of light fit the frame without the darkness on the frames left edge. I will be more in mind of the left and right frame relative to the salad position.

The salad bowl needs to be shot from a higher angle to accommodate less of the chair rail below the painted orange wall coming into frame. For this test shot I actually shot on a coffee table propped up on one of the existing bar tables which gave me a table top height of approximately 6 feet. Ideally for the location shoot I will have a step stool or I will need to use another bar table to sit on to get the angle I need. A  tripod is needed so that I can shoot at a lower shutter speed.

Existing  track lighting on the wall will be used as our main ambient source light for the background. 

Main light on the subject salad will be a flash head on model lamp from above top, and I will take an extra small soft-box to give diffusion and minimise spill onto background.

For main subject fill I will side light the salad for texture and translucency with a flash head with a grid or snoot, using just the modelling lamp so that readings can be modulated and bracketed for best results.

I will need to be conscious of light spill onto the wall as the working space is cramped near the wall. I will bring black Gobos to block out potential spill onto lens as well.

I will use my 24 - 85 mm focused at about 28mm to capture the pools of light on the background and promote the perspective on the salad in the foreground.

As I do not have enough available light for the salad and bowl, I will shoot this at ISO 100 to a max. of ISO 200 on a low shutter speed to be determined and at f 7.1 to 8 so that the depth of field will still be shallow enough to soften the lit wall in the background.

Colour balance will most likely be a problem as there is a lot of yellow cast from the wall.

I will make sure to take a grey card to balance out some of that cast and use a cc gel on the flash heads in the event that we decide we need to use the strobes.

I do not need a permit as that has been previously arranged with management

EQUIPMENT LIST

• 1 Canon 30 D dlsr
• 1 canon 24 - 85 mm lens
• 1 4 G CF card
• 1 Tripod
• 
  
• Profoto kit
• 1 x radio trigger -1 transmitter 2 x receivers ( in case of flash use )
• 1 x 10* grid
• 1 x 40* grid
• 1 x reflector bowl for grid 
• 1 x snoot + adaptor for reflector
• 1 x xtra small Chimera soft box 
• 1 x ring adaptor for soft box
• 3 x black light stands
• 2 x extension cords
• 1 x Sekonic lightmeter
• 2 - 4 x black gobos  lrg + small
• 4 x clamps
• 2 x cc gels
• 1 x grey card 
• 1 x nd Filter
• 2 x pocket mirror
• 1 x Macbook pro and capture app
• 1 x 12ft tether usb cable
• gourmet magazine layout on mylar scaled to layout
• masking tape
• butyl
• carry all on wheels
• Atomiser
• small brush

PRE - LIGHTING DIAGRAM

Location One: Indoor Environmental Portrait

FINAL IMAGE - Shoot Report and Analysis

Final Shoot Report

The shoot as described below was done in a short window of time so I had to make all lighting calculations swiftly. Under the pressure of time and limited space in the environment, I took ambient light readings on the light coming in from two large windows in the office. The sun was fairly diffused coming from the west through these windows and the building luckily faces north to the mountain with a view of the surrounding buildings and street below.

 I wasted some time initially trying to come up with some kind of interesting composition in such a generic lacklustre space. Firstly I placed my model at her desk, then standing in front, but every composition I tried did not say anything about the subject of "where the jobs are" and that would make even a somewhat interesting layout. I finally realised that the only way to shoot this was to use the surrounding buildings in the window view. I settled on the window that would allow me to have the benefit of light coming from the side and from which backlight could not create flare or exposure problems.

All artificial lighting except for my flash heads were turned off in the room before beginning so that I would not have to do gel balancing on the fluorescent lighting overhead. Although Flash was my main lighting source with the ambient light form outside the windows visible in the background, I metered on the existing exterior light and used my flash as fill so as to balance the two sources of lighting. The angle of the windows adjacent to the buildings I wanted in the background made for a very tight crop on my subject. I ended up photographing my model from about 5 to 6 feet away at about 50 mm focal length which gave a slight compression on the buildings behind. Shooting at 5.6 gives a softness to the background that I liked as there was a discernible blue hue to the reflections off the buildings, which luckily co-ordinated with my model's clothing choice.

I put the more powerful flash on a stand with an umbrella bracket and used a bounce umbrella

to create stronger light on my subject who is the main focus in this shot. I had the smaller flash head off to my left on a table stand and pointed at the opposite side of my model to have cross fill on some of the harsher shadows created by the main fill light. I had to place this flash with reflection on the window behind my model in mind, so I made sure the subjects' body covered any reflection area behind her. Windows always present the trickiest angles for flash. I put the attached softening filter over the end of the small flash. I did not have much time to keep adjusting my flash heads so I set them on TTL. I took a reading on each flash individually and then an overall reading on the two flash sources together giving me a combined reading of f 5.6 at ISO 100, 1/ 100th. The ambient reading of natural light falling on my subject was f 2.8 and I was losing the exterior light fast at the end of the day.

I feel although definitely not the end result I had hoped for, based on crop and overall image impact, I managed to get the best results out of limited resources and it was an excellent exercise in being able to assess existing lighting quickly and efficiently to get the shot or at least a well lit shot.

Final Lighting Diagram

Pre - Light Report + Analysis

I was not able to get access to the location for a Pre Light on the Interior Portrait Lighting assignment due to the reality that it is a daily work environment and an ongoing construction was taking place in the building premises. The following is an example of the letter and  facebook back and forth I had to write in order to get permission to shoot on the premises, which in the end was delayed due to smoke problems created by the construction... which goes to show that on any job one has to be flexible on projected shooting appointments. The whole process to set up this shoot took a lot longer than anticipated as my model was away on vacation and her boss had to okay the session. 

When we finally did get it together to do the shoot, I had to do Pre Lighting calculations on the fly. When I arrived in the office I was a little shocked and intimidated by how little space I had to work in and with... Not doing a Preliminary scout of the location is definitely not recommended and I will try my best in the future especially on paying jobs to gain access if possible at all times beforehand. I only had permission to shoot in my model's small office and was not allowed access to the common areas, which would have worked better for my shot. As well, I had a small window of time in which to shoot, about one and a half hours, to get it done and pack up as it was just after work hours and my model had plans shortly thereafter.

The following is an example of the letter and  facebook back and forth I had to write in order to get permission to shoot on the premises:

Vantage point of camera to subject 

View of the office space with windows

Equipment List

• 1x Canon 7D dlsr
• 1 x 8 Gb extreme Platinum CF card
• 1 x Sekonik light meter 
• 2 x light stands
• 1 x Tripod
• 2 x Portable flash units : 1 Canon 580 EX II +  1 Canon 430 EX II
• 1 x Yungnuo R 602 Trigger
• 2 x Yungnuo R 602 Receivers
• 1 x Umbrella mounts with cold shoe adaptor for receivers and flash heads
• 1 x flash table stand
• 12 x rechargeable AA batteries for the flash and extra if needed
• 1 x  reflective bounce umbrella
• 2 x 4' x 3' foam core sheets as Gobos
• 3 x spring clamps 
• 1 x equipment trolly
• 1 x lightstand  + tripod bag
• 2 x roscolux gels sample books
• 1 x mirror