Control the Light and Improve Your Photography: Part I – Portraiture using Available Light from Sekonic on Vimeo.

The location we decided on for the shoot was Virginia Water in Surrey. This would provide a natural backdrop in keeping with Doug’s wildlife photographers nature. The varying landscapes and rough paths and woodland would provide good backdrops, and the man-made waterfall at the south end of the park would allow me to play with different heights. I deliberately chose July to give us the best lighting, and went for an early morning shoot as this would allow for sunlight to come in at an angle, under the canopy of the trees. The morning would also give  good opportunity to play with different natural lighting angles that would be presented as the day progressed.

The shoot began as planned, with both of us arriving at the south entrance to Virginia Water with the weather sunny, but the cloud already building and threatening rain. Doug instantly broke out his Canon 500mm L-Series prime, and we began shooting. Our first stop was the waters edge at the lake, however with the background light proving too intense, we moved down the path closer to the waterfall. the rock outcropping gave a good if dark background to photograph Doug against. Doug kindly brought along a spare Speedlite flash, which I set up for wireless shooting to light the rock backdrop he was standing against, with my Speedlight acting as a fill-in flash for him. Pretty soon we had some pictures to be proud of, but still not that one amazing ‘intrepid’ shot that Doug was looking for.

We moved onto the top of the waterfall and continued shooting, the gentler green background providing a softer background than the darker and harsher rock. Here I asked Doug to pose against the rocks while I took photos from his level, and from below at the base of the waterfall. Finally we had the picture Doug was looking for, and with a little tinkering with the flash, produced a worthy picture for his website (see above).

Just as we were about to move on to the river leading to the waterfall, a grey Heron landed in the water about 35meters from us. Fortunately Doug had already set up his 500mm on his Tripod, and quickly trained on the new arrival. As it was my first time around such a lens, I was impressed with the quality of the shots Doug was able to get, and I quickly understood why he was an accomplished wildlife photographer. Doug’s pictures of the Heron can be seen here.

After we moved on from the waterfall, we set up in front of some of Virginia Water’s ancient but fantastical beautiful trees. The natural platform of the tree bark along with the soft foliage of the leaves provided another good background, with some better than average lighting due to the thinning canopy. Before we could get any decent shots though, nature decided to conspire against us. The rain started, so we decided to pack up and call it a day. No sooner had we transferred the photos onto a backup storage unit, then the rain began in earnest. Within a few minutes we were both soaked to the skin, and insanely thankful for All-Weather camera bags.

The day was a success, and the above photo now addorns Doug’s ‘About Me’ page on his website, www.dougbreakwellphotography.com . I could not more highly recommend Doug’s skills and knowledge. He is a pleasure to work with, and a fountain of knowledge and experience that I hope to learn from.

Shortly after the Easter break, I was privileged to work with Dominik Danielewicz and Dario Attanasio of After Dark Productions on the production of an advertisement for the Doritos ‘Design and Advert’ competition.

It was an honour to work with both the producers, and with all the crew. While I was only initially on set as a photographer, I was also asked to help out with the production (as crew), and even had a small role as an extra in the production.

The entry was submitted two weeks ago, and has since appeared on YouTube.

A big thank you to After Dark Productions for letting me become a part of this production, and a huge thank you to all the cast and crew for putting up with all the photographs.

Best of luck in the competition!