I need 1/1600th Flash sync ! Why ? because I like to have choice when I’m shooting. The 3x images above are actually a screen grab from Capture One. So this is before any retouching, honestly.  We always strive to get it right in camera.

This was a shoot last summer for Davidoff. We had a super bright, hot and sunny day in London. (Yes they do Happen)  I wanted to show the muscularity of the model, obviously  the best way to do this is with lighting. The sun was so bright though, that I needed to shoot at a high shutter speed to bring the ambient light down, so I could then light into this shadow to create some form on the muscles.

Here’s the behind the scenes for the pull up image, look at how bright the daylight is. I still get very enthusiastic about lighting as the difference it makes is HUGE !

Now it’s the Pushup set up.  The Technical stuff: I’m using Elinchrom Lights with a Phase One DF camera with the P65+ Digital Back iso50,  Schneider Kreuznach lenses.  The high-speed wireless  sync is achieved using the Profoto Air Sync Transceivers on the lights. I’m using a Phase One V Grip Air to send the signal, I laughed when Phase One sent me an early prototype of the V Grip. I did end up buying one though and I use it all the time, so they had the last laugh.

Here’s the final setup, the rowing image. Once again you can see my whole lighting setup. I’m pretty relaxed about sharing setups, as it’s one thing to see how someone works, but it’s another thing altogether to work out lighting and setup for each scenario you’re faced with.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unbelievably, the images have very little retouching (just blemishes, dust and stuff like that) I’ll follow up shortly with a few behind the scenes images so you can see how everything was done, in the meantime please enjoy the video above.

One last thing, if you’d like  to purchase the Calendar, click here.

A couple of months ago I was having lunch with a great friend of mine, the excellent photographer Jim Marks. During lunch he asked the question: “Do you want to see what I’ve been shooting that glasses campaign with?”

“Sure why not?” I replied. (It’s always interesting to see what Jim’s using, as he changes cameras more frequently then some people change their underpants)

Then he pulls out of his small bag, a teeny weeny tiny camera. “You must be joking ?” I say.

“Nope, I just shot for 3x days last week with this object of beauty” Earlier this year Jim had sold his Leica M9 so he’s very familiar with excellent small cameras.

Jim showed me the resulting images and I was very impressed. So much so, that I went out and bought one the following week.

At last  I had a camera that is small enough to be with me most of the time, yet capable of  excellent results. This will become our official behind the scenes stills camera.  I haven’t tested if fully yet but it seems to be pretty much on par with my Nikon D700 up to 800iso.

The ergonomics are the best of any point and shoot camera I’ve used and I strongly suggest that all camera makers check it out.

Lastly, it also looks super cool.  It’s a totally un-intimidating camera,

No, Fuji are not paying me to say this stuff, I’ve been looking for years for something like this. I’ve added a polarizing filter, spare battery and funky Fuji brown leather case to complete the kit.

Fuji’s official X100 website is here.

Final Note: The only downside for some people might be the fact that the lens is a fixed focal length (slightly wide) so no zooming. However the benefit of this is beautiful optics.

I have always had a tilt/shift camera or lens in my arsenal of equipment. This started with portraits on 5×4″ film then I had a Hasselblad Flexbody, now it’s the Schneider Kreuznach lens TS 120mm  for my Phase System.

Phase One kindly sent me a prototype of this lens late last year, just in time for a shoot in northern Italy. There really is nothing like testing gear in real world situations! I had backup ideas in place, but I really wanted to play with this new lens.

One of my shoots was to do a portrait of the great Italian Architect Massimo Vago I felt this lens would be perfect for this.  At this stage the lens didn’t have a tripod mount on it so shooting with it wasn’t easy, Phase are very responsive to considered feedback, so I’m delighted they’ve added a tripod mount to the lens. This now makes the lens much easier to use.

If you’re a still life shooter, I’d strongly recommend this lens to you, if you’re like me and shoot mostly people, then be warned the results are awesome but it’s not the fastest tool to use.

Have a quick look below at the short video I made about the advantages of tilt shift-tilt shift, I also speak a little about a funny sounding thing called Scheimpflug.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks

Adrian

One of my clients Hardy Amies of Saville Row, asked  me  to light a fashion show for London Fashion Week. This isn’t the sort of thing I normally do, but it was great fun. The brief was to give the set a ‘Daylight’ feeling. I think we achieved this.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At the time I didn’t think that much of it, but he ran a six page feature on me and used one of my images on the cover.

Click here to read the full article.

Here’s a short list of  links to this new and interesting machine

Simon Stafford Nikon expert

Australian Wedding Photographer Markus Bell Hands on impression

DpReview

Nikon