Natural Light shooting

Saturday, 9/15..... driving down with my brother(videographer) to a shoot at a friend's pad in Huntington Beach. A shoot that I've been planning for a month now. Got all my gears packed and ready. It was one hot afternoon considering the pad is just walking distance away from the beach. It was surprisingly 101 F . Dumped all my strobes, light stands, portable battery, camera gear in the car.

Arrived at the location at 1:30pm. Unloaded all that heavy gear to the pad. Then a stupid idea came up to me.  Wow... the pad has one big sliding door lighting up the living room.... and the light coming from that opening looks pretty cool. So I decided to just put all equipment in a corner (which really sucks considering the amount of work of lugging it all up to 3 floors).

I was pretty unsure so I had one strobe on standby just in case I don't like the look I will be getting.  Fist model was ready then I started shooting. As I was shooting and checking out the pictures in my camera, I know exactly  how I was going to process the images. It was like after I shoot an image...in my brain, it was already post processed . The more I shot, the more enthusiastic and excited I get.

I realized how I'm missing out shooting with natural light. It's a very different look. A look that I did not really learn to admire and love ..... until now. It's a challenge but when you learn how to use it to your advantage, it is so rewarding.

Some images from that shoot.........

If you want to see more of my work using natural light ... click on the link below
Soleil - working with natural light

Shooting with Natural Light

Just like any other photographer, I started shooting with natural light. I was using different type of reflectors and using available everyday items . Everyday items you might ask? Yes, you can actually use what is provided by around you. Natural items that reflects light... like sand at the beach (on a sunny day of course), water (pool, pond, etc.), lightly colored items like a wooden fence or even concrete floors and walls. You just have to be aware how all the light is reflected and bouncing around in your work area and position your subject correctly. The human eye is so amazing that it can adjust to anything; unlike a camera which is a mechanical item. It's like a computer... garbage in ...garbage out. Reason the camera has shutter speed, aperture, and ISO that will help everything work ...like our human eye.

I usually shoot with strobes especially when I started shooting professionally. I am now going back to my roots and working with ambient light again. A few weeks ago, I worked with a local boutique, an agency model, and a makeup/hair stylist in one of my shoots.  Here are the outcome....

All are done using ambient light... shot around noon time.

Working as a Lighting Tech for a celebrity shoot

(Star Magazine Oct 2011)

I got the chance to work for a photo shoot as a lighting technician for a celebrity photographer. We were shooting Jennifer Gimenez of the Celebrity Rehab reality show. Jennifer was a very down-to-earth lady and a joy to work with. Everybody at the shoot was amazingly talented. I like surrounding myself with creative and friendly people.  The photo shoot was in a private mansion in Bel Air, CA. It took us almost 6 hours to finish her shoot. We shot her outside to utilize the amazing view and pool. It was a beautiful and hot day.  I decided to use the sun as highlights, hit her face with  a strobe using a soft light modifier and a large reflector underneath to light up her body. It was like 11am so we were shooting at F/14 to F/16.

Slowly getting into HDSLR Video

I own a Canon 7D so I decided to take advantage of it's video capability. Ever since I was a kid, my siblings and I would borrow my Dad's video camera and shoot music videos all day long. So now, I decided as my first video project, I will do a video of my nephew, Niko. Click on the link to show the finish video.
Niko- One Spring Day

A Beauty Make Up Shoot

Melissa and Sarah are 2 young creative individuals I met in Model Mayhem. Melissa is a 19 year old MUA and has been doing make up for 1.5 years now. Sarah, her cousin, does hairstyling ever since she was a teenager. I've been fortunate enough to work with both of these girls...since they come as a package LOL.... for quite a while now. Just like me, all of us are in it for the love and passion of our art.



One day in a shoot, a model FLAKED on us and we just did an impromptu meeting on what we are going to shoot next. I asked them if they wanted to showcase there skills and just do something fun FOR THEM. I gave them all the creative responsibility since it is considered to be there shoot. I told them to plan what make up and hair concepts they are going to do and get there own models. They asked there close friends to do it..The shoot took quiet awhile since it's more on creative makeup.

Photography wise, I decided to use a lighting setup which I usually do when it comes to detail close up make up beauty shoots. A beauty dish keylight  4 ft above the model and a silver reflector that would serve as a fill under the eye sockets, nose, and neck. I also put a light at the back to separate the model from the background.

I later on added a strip light to light up the model's hair...see pic below.

And here are the finished edited images... click on link

Make Up/Hair Photo Shoot

If you have questions or any violent reactions please feel free to leave it here... thank you.

Phil

Model Photography: Shoot with Tala

Tala, Russian/Persian model TV host. 5'-10" tall with heels... 6'-2".
She wants high fashion shots.... so here we go.

Here is my light setup for that shoot.

3 light setup....an AB800 (pink) with a Photoflex Softligher II 43"  for key light , an AB800 with a shoot thru umbrella 48" fill (low), another AB800 for background light ([30deg grid). I use foamcore boards to use as flag(black side) and bounce (white side) for fill... inexpensive tool but very effective.  I always use a light meter to avoid guess work when doing light ratios. I know people when they just eye ball everything  but people who do that are usually really really experienced photographers. When I shoot, I constantly move things around to get variation once I figure out what light ratio I want to shoot with. Key light is one full stop higher than the fill... background is same ratio as key light. With the dark gray background. I added a kicker on camera left and had it 1 stop higher than the key light.

Leave your comments and questions.

Here are some samples of the images we took.
Tala's Fashion Shoot

Photography Corner : Little Bo Peep

teaser photo for Little Bo Peep

 
One day a friend  of mine, who is a make-up artist, asked me if I am interested in doing a themed or conceptual photo shoot. I like art a lot and when it comes to photography then I am down. Amanda, the make-up artist, told me she's an avid fan of Annie Leibovitz (photographer extraordinaire) and would want to do a shoot that is like inspired from her style of concepts. I got excited since I am also a big fan of Annie Leibovitz. Amanda picked "Little Bo Peep" (from that nursery rhyme) with a romantic twist . I loved it and agreed to do the shoot. It took us 4 months to plan everything.... especially gathering all the people involved. It was a fun and very rewarding experience.  I think we did create good images for that shoot and sticked to what was planned originally.

Here is the complete set of the shoot.

Little Bo Peep


An amateur video: "Behind The Scenes : Little Bo Peep"

Behind The Scenes : Little Bo Peep


Phil Fernandez is a full time professional photographer and can be booked at:

Phil Fernandez Photography