#HrdLight - Nataly Pourikkou

The third image in my #HrdLight project series.

Taken about 2 weeks ago on a location shoot in my home town Stockport, this project was kind of in the back of my mind… in a I will grab something If i see a shot kinda way, to be honest I just wanted to get out and shoot after a really crappy week.

Even though I used hard light a fair bit during this shoot (dam wind), I did not have any specific hard light shot ideas for this project, that was until the last location (a dark walkway) resulted in an interesting long exposure after a accidental shutter press… that started the process of making this image.  Due to the lowlight level in the walkway exposures for ambient light were pretty long, this means you can get some ghosting when mixing ambient with flash, which is the result you see above.

Exposure : F6.3, ISO 500, 4”   Light: On Camera (yes yes on camera) Straight up hard flash 1/64  power + 0.3ev  (in camera NOT photo shop)

I tried it ETTL but it sucked (nothing new) so i switched to manual as I wanted a more consistent flash exposure.  The flash exposure is the only consistency your going to get with long exposure images like this and that’s what makes them fun, to quote Forrest Gump .. You never know what your gonna get.

Also on a side note, I'm getting to like the in camera RAW processing options on the 60D quite a bit.  This was shot in RAW colour and since you can’t re shoot the same image again with long exposures I converted the RAW file in camera to a B & W JPEG and added contrast, sharpening etc to give me an in the field idea. FYI the final image has gone through Light Room.

#HrdLight – Karina

You may have read my previous post about starting a new project #HrdLight well I wanted to hit the ground running with this.  I had a shoot on location yesterday in Liverpool (More on this shoot later) and while I was keeping the project in mind I wanted to get the shots the subject wanted in the bag first.. remember when working with a subject on location (model, client, what ever) its a collaboration always.. your working as a team.

As it turns out the conditions (25mph winds) kind of dictated the type of light that could be used, that type of light was unmodified bare.. #HrdLight   .. If I had tried to used a softbox or umbrella it would of been game over (Wind 1 , Modifier 0).  So to kick start this project off here is my first #Hrdlight frame and incidentally one of the first real frames from my new Camera.

One more thing to say… Karina you were an absolute star and coped with the difficult conditions amazingly.. Thank You. 

FYI - If you or you known somebody would like to be photographed (18 Years or older) as part of this project then you can email me here  Please use "#HrdLight" in the email subject. I am only looking for people in and around  Stockport, Manchester and Liverpool (Basically local).

If you have any questions about this project if you are considering contacting me about being photographed for it let me know. 

Thank You

Rick

Project Announcement: #HrdLight (Hard Light)

Just a quick blog post  about a new project I am starting.  Its a personal project/personal work…but may include work from client shoots also.

Some of you may of guessed what the project is from the title #HrdLight – It’s a portrait project based on using and experimenting with hard light.. no large softboxes, umbrellas in fact no soft anything… just hard light.  The example above is just that an example, I want to shoot all new work for this project.

Hard Light (#HrdLight) can come from using strobe, mid day sun, torches… the list goes on.. its all about the size of the light in relation to the size of your subject and also the working distance as working far away can make a large light source hard (Think Sun).  

What is hard light? - Well its Hard/Harsh Light... you will get shadows and a very hard lines between hightlight & shadow (Light and darker) areas of an image, to what degree depends on how its used.

Why hard light?  Well why not -  no seriously I love it..and like drama and shadows so want to experiment and grow my use of hard light,  will it work for every subject..may be.. maybe not depends on how you use it but it will be fun to find out.

This will be an on-going project and not a 365 picture a day project.. I am planning to shoot models, friends, family, strangers (read anyone I can get in front of the camera) for this.  

Whilst its a project based on using #HrdLight I will still be working with my subjects to make the images, getting to know them and working to find a frame that suits them as well... so there is more to this than a project based around a way of using light, as always with portrait work you have a subject to work with / understand. 

Images will be blogged on this site and sent out on twitter with the #HrdLight and I will also add them to my 500px account until the project is complete and can be added to a gallery / page on this site.

I’m shooting tomorrow no wait today (crap its 2:15am) so I’m hoping to get the first image for the project. 

FYI - If you or you known somebody would like to be photographed (18 Years or older) as part of this project then you can email me here  Please use "#HrdLight" in the email subject. I am only looking for people in and around  Stockport, Manchester and Liverpool (Basically local). 

If you have any questions about this project if you are considering contacting me about being photographed for it let me know. 

Thank You

Rick