The Realities of organising a photoshoot?

What are your experiences like?

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Amie in Eccelsall Woods

Amie_Eccelsall Woods-6.jpg, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

To see more of the images from the evening session with Amie in Eccelsall Woods, please visit Amie Set of Images on Flickr

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Lady Gaga Shot by Terry Richardson for Supreme

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

How I Shot Evie Farrah's Fashion Portraits

Stepahnie-Evie Farrah Shoot.jpg, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

At the beginning of the month, I had the chance to work again with the lovely Evie Farrah to create some fashion images for her model/ performer portfolio. The original plan was to re-shoot her burlesque routine from the Black Velvet Burlesque night a few evenings before, but on the evening of the shoot we had a change of plan, as you will see from the images.

The thing that did not change was my idea to experiment with a single light source. I had been inspired to try this after reading some articles over at Damien Lovegrove's ProPhotoNut website. The result of this was to experiment with the lighting setup as shown in the diagram below.

The only main change throughout this studio session was the positioning of the beauty dish. I was roughly varying it from 60-120 degrees to the camera left. The image at the top is the result of one of these setups. To see more images from this session, you can visit either my Facebook Fan Page or my Flickr stream.

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Women And Chocolate Photoshoot

Why is it so hard to find women that want to shoot the concept of women and chocolate, and giving into the temptation of it? One friend did come up with the theory that "Because women eat chocolate, the two do not coexist for very long, thus difficult if near impossible to stumble upon."

For some ideas of the type of images I am looking to create, please browse this Flickr Gallery.

If you are interested in collaborating with me, please head across to my Facebook Photography Fan Page and register your interest.

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Do You Need Something For Your Valentine?

A one hour Valentines shoot is a sure way to brighten up your loved one's valentine and make a lasting impression! Whether as a gift to yourself or your loved one, my photo sessions will be a fun experience to remember.

The shoot can involve a couple of changes of clothes; the style and content of the shoot is entirely down to you. It could be a sexy boudoir shoot, a fashion style shoot, a beautiful Hollywood glamour style portrait or even a lifestyle shoot involving both you and your partner. The images can be shot in the studio, in your own home, or on a location of your choice.

All for just £30 with a free complimentary 10x8 print, and 20 web-sized images for use on Facebook or Myspace, etc. For additional prints or other creative ideas to utilise your images, please get in touch.

Head over to my Facebook Photography Page and become a fan to book your glamorous shoot today!!

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

The Making Of LE52Weeks-3 Still Life Assignment

LE52Weeks-3 Still Life Assignment, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

Set-up Shot:

As you can see from the set-up image, I am using a DIY Light box, made from cutting two sides out and taping bits of white bed sheets to these areas. Inside the box, on the top side is a white poster-board to aid with reflecting light. There are two different coloured backgrounds in use, a white and a black ground, that are taped in place.

Two speedlights are placed at 45degress to the box, both set to E-TTL and dialled down -1 by using the Flash Exposure Compensation on the Master, non-firing flash sat on camera.

Result:

Post Processing:

Processed using Scott Kelby's 7 Point System that includes:

1. Adobe Camera Raw Processing
2. Curves Adjustment
3. Channel Adjustments (LAB colour/Apply Image)
4. Shadow/Highlight
5. Painting with Light
6. Layer Blend Modes & Layer Masks
7. Sharpening Techniques

Then finally the image is inserted into the layout to get the image at the top of the post.

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Mind, Body, and Soul Project

Mind, Body, and Soul Project, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

The start of a new personal project, "Mind, Body and Soul" looking at how the three elements interact to either enhance or deceive the viewer.

More images can be seen on my facebook fan page

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Joshua in a Male Model Portrait Portfolio in Sheffield

Joshua_0004, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

I have recently decided to step outside my comfort zone with my photography. I have shot lots of portraits for women, but rarely, if ever, done so for men. That is until Joshua was directed my way by a mutual friend who I had shot before. You have got to love the power of mouth to mouth publicity.

One of the problems that I came up against was with the posing. I have so many tips and ideas running through my head for how to pose a woman and to make her look feminine, but hardly any for a man. The only two tips that came to mind, were not to pose the head towards the higher should, and to have the whole body in two directions, that is the body facing one way, and the face and eyes in another. A woman though could have body facing one direction, her head a second, and her eyes a third.

So, the above image is just one of a series images taken for Joshua. They were taken in Whirlow Brook Park in Sheffield, and tried to show a variety of clothing styles.

Does anybody have any additional tips to improve my work with male posing and portfolio development?

Tina in a Location Portrait Session in Sheffield

I just seem to be having a run of luck of having to constantly re-arrange shoot with models. Minor things keep on cropping up to thwart our plans to shoot together. However, I finally managed to get a shoot in, after almost a month of not shooting anybody, thanks to Tina, above.

Tina has been a long term friend and responded to a call for a shoot I was doing, called "Fashionably Elegant on a Budget: 10 Items Every Woman Should Own". It is based on a newspaper article in the Telgraph newspaper. It lists a "Magnificent 10" items that every woman should have: a little black dress, stiletto shoes, matching handbag, a trench coat, a white blouse, cashmere pullover, jeans, a white T-shirt, a pearl necklace and lipstick. So far, all of the models I have worked with have not had the full 10 items so we have often improvised with other items of clothing as a substitute.

If you click on the above picture it will take you to flickr and other images from the series.

Katie on a Location Portrait Portfolio Shoot in Sheffield

Katie...XI, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

It has been a long time since my last update, mainly due to looming deadlines for the college course that I have been attending. In this post is my first shoot with Katie. It is, I think, one of her first with a photographer other than herself. As a first time model, she seemed to be very self confident in her posing, and adapted quickly to her surroundings. The images where shot in and around Whirlow Brook Park, which is quickly gaining in my liking for a place to shoot. The park has a variety of different locations on offer, ranging from a hall and it's gardens, to small lakes and ponds, wooded areas to rockerys.

Another reason for a long time between postings is a mass culling of my photostream over at flickr. I have now imposed upon myself a rule that if a photo has not gained 100 views within a month of posting, it will now be deleted from my stream. This has been done as an effort to improve the quality of my stream. I had been going along the lines of quantity instead. I feel that this has made my stream stronger in content. Please visit the stream to see for yourself.

Ginger La Rouge in a Studio Portrait Session in Sheffield

Ginger La Rouge...IV, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

There are some images that capture other people's imaginations. This seems to be one of them. The other images that are grouped with this image never quite took off like this one did. Below are some of the others taken at the same shoot. BTW, can you tell that Ginger La Rouge is a burlesque performer?

Ginger La Rouge...VIII, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

Ginger La Rouge...XI, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.