Tuesday, 27 July 2010
While waiting for my partner at the local train station an hour or so ago, I was taking a few shots of lamp posts against the incoming storm clouds, a line of taxis and the shiny ticket machines. The main purpose of this was to find a satisfactory capture for todays Project 365 submission.
As my partner arrived, we were approached by a gentleman working for National Express and I was asked what I was taking photographs of. Apparently, the security cameras at the station had been watching me for ten minutes and had automatically swung around to view me as I had a camera.
I explained to the gentleman that I was a photographer and was merely taking photographs of things that appealed to me as I was waiting, not really looking to shoot anything in particular. The gentleman went on to explain that, because Colchester is a garrison town, any suspicious behaviour is watched carefully to ensure that any 'undesirables' are picked up.
To confirm my ealier story, he reiterated my statement about taking photographs of 'nothing in particular' and asked me if this was correct. I replied that it was and that it is what I do.
At this point, he proceeded to warn me about the risks of taking photographs in and around the train station and appeared content to allow me on my way.
I'm not certain which part of my behaviour led them to believe that I was some form of threat... Perhaps it was the suspiciously large Tamrac camera bag on my shoulder, the suspicious looking 300mm telephoto lens on my camera, or the suspiciously blatant way that I was waving both about in plain view of everyone.
I don't think that I'd ever quite describe my actions as furtive, at any rate.
The gentleman who questioned me was very polite about things but I was, none the less, made to feel as though I had committed some great heinous crime...
Probably best to chalk this one up to experience, I think...
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Thought one or two folks might be interested in this little setup that I put together earlier this evening when I shot Perfect Love
I needed to find a way of setting up some limited lighting onto my subject, a tulip resting on a mirror and so had the idea to begin hunting around the house to see what I had that might be useful.. I didn’t get too far though when my eyes fell upon this lot below:
- A Velbon CX Mini Tripod, available from Amazon for a poultry £12-£13 or so (I paid £12.50 plus postage).
- A small LED torch that I think was about £3-£4
- A roll of electrical tape (Approx £2 for a pack of 3 from the local market).
And voila! A nice mini lighting setup that enabled me to take the shot above for less than about £20..
In addition, with care, the Velbon is pretty reasonable for use with an SLR if you’re looking to take any shots low down to the ground. I wouldn’t recommend it outside in anything above a slight wind, but indoors it works a charm!
The only other equipment I used was a double black sheet and a mirror.. Both of which I had lying around the house. :))
Friday, 2 October 2009
I thought I’d share a little information about doing a shoot on a budget, seeing as I am doing it rather a lot and that I’ve had some success with the resultant photographs, just using what I could find around the house..
So, here’s the image I’m using as an example of my low cost creations:
This is one of my favorite images that I’ve created and part of that is due to the way that it was created. It was shot in one of the bedrooms of my home with no studio equipment.. Well, with the exception of a tripod…
So, here’s my shopping list (including the actual photographic gear)...
Photographic Stuff
- Camera. (well, yes.. Obviously) In this case, my Canon EOS 400D with my Sigma DG 28-300mm lens.
- My tripod.
- Conin A, soft focus filter (A380) plus the associated lens adaptor ring and filter holder, of course. (If you don’t have filters, then this particular set up was about £20 I think)
The Other Equipment/Props
- One Model (In this case, my girlfriend, Little-Red, so it didn’t cost me anything.. Well, perhaps dinner tomorrow night…)
- The models clothes. (She comes equipped with these… Well, mostly..)
- One dining room chair.. (Already lying around the house just waiting to be used)
- One 10M length of red bondage rope (About £10 from ebay)
- A table reading lamp with adjustable neck (I discovered this particular one laying at the back of a long forgotten cupboard, looking rather disheveled.. It’s amazing what you can find if you go looking)
- 2 red supermarket carrier bags (Free from the supermarket, and I’ll explain what they are for in a minute…)
- 2 black sheets for a kingsize bed (£12 for the two).
- 1 roll of normal sticky tape (£1 from a cheap stationers)
- Gimp Software. (Free Open Source Software)
Okey, so we’ve got all our stuff together and, other than the actual camera equipment, I actually spent a total of £23.. I’ve included the sheets in the cost because I bought them specifically for my photography.. If you already use black sheets to sleep on, then you’ve got an even cheaper project!
So, to get the finished work that you see at the top, I shot this:
The soft focus was gained from the filter on the camera and the red lighting was achieved from the small table reading lamp with the two red supermarket carrier bags taped over it.
A word of warning with this! The bulb in the lamp gets hot! Do not leave it on for too long at any one time, and give it a few minutes to cool off!! Otherwise you risk melting the bags and starting a fire!!
I then carried out all of the post processing in Gimp which is an entirely free package.
(For a tutorial on using Gimp to selective colour, Go here)
So, in total I spent £23 on props and equipment that I didn’t have lying around the house already (or had already purchased as part of my hobby.. My camera, for example).
So, for anyone that’s looking to do some moody and erotic based work but thinks they need special stuff.. Nope, you don’t.. Just take a look around and see what you can use.. :)
Edit
Kriss (CLiPiCs) very kindly bubblemailed me with some other ‘Shoot it on the cheap’ Journal posts that he wrote and they are brilliant! So if you found this useful, go and have a read of them!
Photography on the Cheap!
Photography on the Cheap Part Two
Studio Speed Test
Monday, 24 August 2009
After becoming somewhat disillusioned with the website that I have been working with over the last few months (years even, now that I think of it), I decided that it was time for a change.
So, this evening I discovered Redbubble. I already like the look of the site and I've decided to start this blog alongside my newfound experiments in photographic art with this new website.
