zygotic portraits

zygotic portraits
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

These guys were cool with me doing some experiments, so I set up a Sunpak through an umbrella, then lit the background with a tungsten light. The shutter speed was about a quarter second to bring up the background. A side benefit of the long shutter speed was a nice black halo around the guys where I moved the camera a little during the exposure.

zygotic group shot

zygotic group shot
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

Did a shoot for a band called Zygotic yesterday. They're all like 14 and 15 years old, and really good. Kids these days eh? You don't wanna know what I was busy doing every day when I was 14 years old, but it certainly wasn't anything cool.
Really simple lighting on this shot. A single bare Sunpak above and to the right of the camera, and another Sunpak shot into a reflector on the ground in front of them.Some of the light from the top strobe spilled onto the background creating a subtle aura. Maybe too subtle.

Zero Degrees

Zero Degrees
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

This carpark was interesting because just about every lightbulb was a different type, from low wattage flourescent to very warm incandescent. The blue area at the back is outside and very overcast. CTO gelled flash above the guys. Pretty much straight out of the camera except for the white balance.

marc collis

marc collis
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

I tried using parts of Marc's body as compositional tools to frame his face. I put up a single flash in a brolly above the camera and lit the background with a tungsten light. A slightly longer shutter speed combined with slight movement gave Marc a subtle black outline.
The vignette was in the shot.

Rhythm Hounds

Rhythm Hounds
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

Local hiphop act Rhythm Hounds are being signed to a new label and needed 3 or 4 different looks for various magazines and promos.
Here's a tip; make sure the client brings a few changes of clothes to the shoot if you wanna get some variety. Having the client put in some effort with the way they're presented takes it up a notch and makes the photographer look good too. I don't think the guys knew they were coming in for a photo shoot, so I was behind the eight ball from the start.

2 Sunpak 383 Supers rear left and right with a bare Canon 430EZ above and to the right of camera. Triggered with Pocket Wizards.

Learning from other photographers

The online photography community is very generous when it comes to the sharing of information. A new blog by Brett Gillett is showcasing some talented artists in his blogger profiles at his new photoblog.

Check it out and get yerself some learnin'!

Hitman

Hitman
Originally uploaded by brendan.oshea

Another shot from the Modern Legion shoot last month. Me and my buddy Rom headed to the Melbourne Uni carpark where a few scenes from the original Mad Max was filmed early one Sunday morning, then headed to a car show which featured some brilliant american cars from last century, and then put it all together. I know it's not perfect, but we learned a lot and we intend doing a few more of these "scenario" type shots in the future. As long as we can find bands which are as accommodating as these guys were!
I'm the two guys on the ground back there.
This is a composite, but we used two sunpaks triggered with Pocket wizards for the main subjects.