Photographic Narrative » Location

Portrait Photography in a Tight Space

Roger — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:43:16 +0000

Location photography is great fun. All the challenges of a studio shoot, without the control. In the studio, I am king. On location, the gremlins rule.

Over the past ten days, I’ve photographed two managers on location in their workplaces (one for an editorial feature, the other for promotional use) and two food shoots on location with the producers. In all cases, I used off-camera flash, which at least helps me control the light. A couple of small strobes on stands and you can pretty much overcome any indoor lighting situation.

What you can’t do is control co-workers and the general public.

The editorial portrait above was taken at an outlet of The Perfume Shop in a shopping mall here in Cork city. Despite scheduling the shoot for the morning, the mall was still busy thanks to a farmer’s market outside. The shop also has two big glass fronts, so it was like shooting in a goldfish bowl. Plenty of gawkers. Nobody likes having their photograph taken at the best of times, but it’s even harder when Joe Public is watching.

So you try to keep things moving quickly, keep a steady flow of banter going with the subject and hope that they aren’t as fazed by all the attention as they could be.

In the case of store manager Helen (above), I got lucky. I’d say she could face a cavalry charge and still pull of a relaxed, confident smile.

The magazine had this to say about the final set of photographs: “The images look brilliant.”

At least part of the credit goes to Helen and her staff at shop.

For the Strobists among us, the lighting set up was very simple. The background is underexposed by about a stop and the camera white balance was set to tungsten (hence the blue). Helen was lit from camera right by a single flash and shoot through umbrella. I gelled the flash with a CTO gel to compensate for the blueness and give her skin a natural colour.

Italian Job

Roger — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:44:20 +0000

It was the best assignment that I ever had.

The client flew me to Italy, along with the art director, and we stayed three nights at a wine estate about 20 miles south of Genoa. The flights were business class, of course.

The plan was to spend two days shooting an advertising photograph of a new salad dressing the client was releasing into the Irish market. The estate was the ideal setting, as the client was keen to get a picture with lots of sunshine in a Mediterranean outdoor location.

Into the bargain, we were able to use some of the estate’s superb Italian Chablis in the photograph. And once opened, the bottle had to be finished. That’s the rule.

The client …

Sorry?

“20 miles south of Genoa?”

Er … well … y’know …

“Chablis” in Italy?

Erm … It was a progressive vineyard?

Okay, you got me.

It never happened.

The picture above was taken inside a delicatessen in Rathcormac, Co. Cork, on a wet Monday afternoon.

Here’s the proof:

So, what’s going on here?

First there’s the set up. The furniture is usually outside the delicatessen (Posh Nosh), but stowed inside as it was Monday, when the shop is closed.

The flowers behind the table there are in fact one of the shop’s hanging baskets, plucked from the wall outside. All the other bits and pieces, including the lettuce, bread and wine were culled from the shop’s inventory.

Here’s how we built it up from scratch.

The bare bones:

Bringing in the hanging basket in the background:

Time to look at the lighting.

The lighting scheme was very simple. Two lights. One bounced off the ceiling to give a general ambient. The other coming in from the left with an orange gel on it to suggest golden sunlight.

This doesn’t work at all. The low light suggests evening rather than lunch time, a more appropriate salad time of day. So we shifted the light up higher.

A bit better directionally, but far too warm for a lunch time sun. Using the camera’s white balance setting, I cooled the image somewhat.

At this stage we also dressed the set up a bit more:

The next step was to rig a “tree” using gaffer tape and tissue to cast shadows across the table, as if it were set up in the shade.

And as a last tweak, I put up a reflector to the right to fill in the shadow side of the bottle.

Final result:

Two Looks

Roger — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:40:08 +0000

Over in London the other week, I took some pictures for a friend of mine who owns her own catering company.

The set up was simple. We used a friend’s kitchen overlooking a garden that was getting great evening light. At least that was the plan. My flight was delayed heavily (at least I caught it this time) and we didn’t get shooting until quite late. And the weather was turning. Nevertheless, we got what we needed – partly thanks to the sun peeking out in odd spells, party due to the judicious use of an off-camera flash. Hey, when the sun won’t come out to play, make your own.

I like to play around a little on food shoots. Different light, different moods and different lenses.

Here are two photographs of the same canapes, each with a very distinct feel.

And they were delicious.

Documentary Portraiture

Roger — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:04:55 +0000

Not every assignment is going to fit the documentary mantra – not immediately at least. A good bit of my commercial work is more controlled at present; and with the economy the way it is, I’m not about to alienate my existing client base by declining to offer them what they want. Instead, I’ll develop new business for the documentary stuff.

There is also a fascinating area where a formal and a documentary approach overlap to some degree. Take this portrait of David Hurley, head chef at the Tannery restaurant in Dungarven, taken last Friday as part of a magazine assignment.

There is no doubting that it is a formal photograph. Not only is it a posed picture, I also lit it using two small off-camera flashguns on either side of David. Hardly a cast-iron example of the tell-it-as-it-happened documentary style that’s got me excited.

Yet the photograph also has a strong storytelling aspect to it. It shows something of the restaurant, and I like the way the iron beam at the top of the picture reinforces the strength and physical presence of David. There’s a lot of information here.

This type of picture is more in the the tradition of environmental portraiture – a portrait that shows the subject in context. Regardless of the more formal approach, it does sit nicely with a documentary approach. Not on the same seat, but still roughly at the same table.

Whatever The Weather

Roger — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:34:49 +0000

The weather in Ireland is best described as “moist”, which is a challenge when an architectural assignment comes along. Grey skies don’t do anything for a building; especially if it isn’t a particularly pretty building to start with. The least you want is some blue to help things along.

Usually, there’s a bit of time to play with, which allows me to schedule a shoot during a benign spell of weather. That’s not always possible, though. Sometimes, the job just needs to get done regardless of what Met Eireann says is going to happen.

The photograph above was taken last week in Co. Waterford for GlaxoKlineSmith (GSK) for use on the cover of an internal health and safety document. On the day of the shoot, the sun was out, but disappeared right after the first picture was taken and didn’t come back. At least, not where I needed it. Amidst the gloom and grey skies, a single field on the opposite side of the bay from GSK remained bathed in a patch of bright, golden sunshine for the duration of the shoot. The weather gods like to have their fun.

In the end, I got lucky with some orange on the dusk clouds, which allowed me to bring together the colour of the logo on the sign, the hue of the brick work and the reflection of the clouds in the buildings windows. The final photograph won’t win any awards, and it doesn’t get me excited. But that’s not the point. The point is that the picture was delivered on time to a tight deadline and, more importantly, the client was happy with the final photograph.

Sometimes, you just have to accept that good enough really is good enough.

Tannery Cookery School

Roger — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:07:34 +0000

Last week, I photographed the new cookery school opened in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, by Paul Flynn, one of Ireland’s leading chefs. Thing was, when Yestin and I turned up on site on the morning of the shoot, the place was crawling with contractors. Paul and his wife Maire were in a race against the clock to get the school finished in time for the grand opening that evening. Normal folk, would have said it was impossible. Nevertheless, with an air of sang-froid that would have befitted a Cunard steward in a force 10 Atlantic gale, Paul and his wife Maire were confident that everything would be ready.

And it was.The kitchen, the school’s beating heart, which had in the morning been a tangle of unassembled cabinets and disparate cables hanging from the ceiling, was complete and kitted out ready to go. The guest rooms, heaving all day with electricians, painters, handymen and cleaners, were pristine. The main hallway, a depository for workmen’s gear and photographer’s coats earlier in the day, was a welcoming entrance. Even the front door, lacking so much as a doorknob in the morning, was fully furnished.

The launch went off without a hitch and the guests were full of praise for Maire and Paul’s new venture – and for the delicious food they served that evening. (Believe me it was great. Yestin and I got goodies to take home and the pork I ate while loading the pictures on ot the office computer that evening was sumptuous.)

With so many contractors on site, I decided not to shoot with the larger lights, which would have required us to run cables to power outlets. There was enough going on without adding an additional tripping hazard. Instead, we lit the pictures with two off-camera flash-guns, triggered wirelessly. In the case of the dining room photograph, we put the lights outside and fired them in through windows to add fill light where we needed it. In situations where space is tight or where running power wires just isn’t practical, small off-camera flashes are a godsend. I’m using them for most of my location work these days. In fact, more often than not, I’ll use them in the studio too. The big lights still have a place in the business, but you’ve just got to love what the little guys can do.