I purchased a small vintage Union Jack flag from ebay a while ago with the express intention of using it as a backdrop to some studio portraits. Really wanted a very large flag for full length portraits, but this is just about suitable for half length max. Its made from cotton and doesn’t have the horrible sheen to it that new cheap flags seem to have.
The opportunity to use it only recently came along when I did a fashion shoot with Penny in the Leicester studio. Hung from a backdrop stand with black cloth behind to soak up the light. Lit with a single EZYBox softbox with grid on a C-Stand.
The Olympics may be just about on us but I will keep hold of this flag for the studio. Will be great for dynamic child and family portraits as well as fashion and beauty photoshoots.
One of Leicester’s inner city areas is aptly named Frog Island, an area of land situated between the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal. It was once a great industrial scene, with mills and breweries located in the area, and the Great Central Railway running over the top of the land via a series of viaducts. There is evidence all over Frog Island of its great industrial past, with old buildings being reused and some being left in decay.
I was asked to do a fashion shoot for up and coming dress designer Michelle Schoemaker with model Ellen Ferguson. Location requirement was somewhere old and raw to highlight the softness and delicate look of the outfits. After scouting several areas in Leicester, Frog Island fitted the bill nicely, with a great selection of urban scenery within walking distance.
The image above was taken in the one spot in Frog Island where you cannot see any urban decay. A lovely peaceful view on a bridge over the River Soar in the middle of a busy city centre. Off camera flash and cloud filled sky creating a dramatic environmental portrait.
Had the pleasure of photographing local actor John Gully recently. Arrived at the shoot location to find a large event going on, so a quick think and we changed location to lovely local park Knighton Park 2 mins down the road. Light was lovely. Grabbed a great set of images using mix of natural and off camera lighting. Image above was natural light only taken under a tree to get fantastic soft lighting.
My second urban shoot of last weekend was with Nottingham based model Neil. First time I have worked with Neil and we had a nice relaxed shoot in the gorgeous Leicestershire weather. Lots of interesting backdrops in a small area of Leicester to use as backdrops to portraits, saving on our shoe leather as we moved to each new location. Again I swapped between natural light and off camera flash to capture a useful variety of images. I work light, with one camera bag, a lightstand and small softbox to allow an easy move between setups with little fuss.
Taking advantage of the fantastic spring weather the UK is currently enjoying. I spent last weekend on two urban shoots in my home city of Leicester. First shoot was with up and coming model Ellen. This was my second shoot with Ellen, and we made great use of the mix of old and new buildings around Leicester as fantastic backdrops. A variety of natural light and off camera flash gave us a great variety of images to choose from.
A quick example shown below of a natural light portrait of my daughter Megan. Shot in my office next to a large window with my 50mm lens at f2.8 to give a sharp focus on the eyes but leaving the background blurred. I love this type of image as it is simple but very powerful and great for a family album.
I did a photo shoot in the studio with Rebecca recently and we managed to create some fantastic images for our portfolios. The studio has a white cove for nice clean white backgrounds, ideal for model portfolios, family and individual portrait shoots.
Although I am not into heavy post-processing of my images, I took an opportunity to experiment a bit with background textures on the last two images shown here.