Shooting a VW Scirocco with small flash
Volkswagen Scirocco by Neil Alexander Over the last couple of years I’ve made several photographs of this Scirocco, but this time I wanted to try something different and really push my little flashes. I wanted to shoot into the setting sun and light as much of the car as I could with 2 SB900s (on [...]
My favourites from 2011
It’s that time again…. In keeping with the last couple of year’s reflections on the year that was (2010 here, and 2009 here) below are my 12 14 favourite images from 2011. Slightly different from these previous entries though, I haven’t picked one image from each month, I’ve simply tried to pick my 12 (which [...]
Snappy Tips for Better Photos – part 5 – Composition
For this fifth and final post (for the time being in my Snappy Tips series), I’m going to focus on composition and some simple do’s and dont’s. Learn the rules and then learn why and how to break them. Rule of Thirds Imagine splitting your frame into 3 equal horizontal strips, and then 3 equal [...]
DIY Black Reflections
Inspired by this post from the Cheap Shot man, Larry Becker, I decided to try and throw my own slant on the process and see where I ended up. So I swung by B&Q, grabbed this Rust-oleum direct to plastic paint, and a large sheet of clear perspex. I think I spent around £25 in [...]
Anna – Part 2
This is the second part of this shoot that I did with Anna a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been longing to use this brick pre-war bus shelter on Wicker Lane in Hale Barns for a model shoot for ages and this particular afternoon fitted the bill perfectly. My original plan had been to place [...]
Model shoot with Anna and June’s selected links
The other week I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of working with the lovely Anna again. We did 3 separate location shoots, though the last one was a complete disaster for one reason and another, but the less said about that the better….. Instead I’m going to give you a quick insight into [...]
Engagement shoot with Jay and Vicky
The morning of that fateful night at Wembley for the Champions League final I shot Jay and Vicky just round the corner from their home for their engagement. Time was very tight for all of us to say the least, but within around 30 minutes of dropping a light stand, we were wrapping up and [...]
11 Travel photography tips
Click here to purchase a print or license a digital copy of this image. Having just arrived back from a short shooting jaunt to the sunny island of Malta, I thought I’d put together a short list of dos and don’ts for those wanting to better capture their vacations or break into a little [...]
A model, a strobe and the moon…
I was working on some fresh head shots with Kayleigh on location in Trafford Park, Manchester last week and shortly before we started to wrap up, I spotted the moon high up in the sky with a cloudless sky around it. I figured it would make quite a cool image if I could get enough [...]
Quick and easy portrait shoot
These are a couple of simple portraits I did on Monday. The location was a city centre flat, which had a lot of reflected sunlight coming in through a very large floor to ceiling window. There was no direct sunlight, so the result was a lovely soft and diffused light source. A great start from [...]
The uniforms spoil another shoot
A couple of weeks ago, an image that I’d like to make took shape in my mind. One of numerous on a daily basis. This one in particular was of a musician seated on a wooden chair playing a guitar with a cityscape in the background. I spent a little time working on the details [...]
High speed teddy bears
I’ve been asked a few times lately about high-speed sync – what it is, and how it works so I’m going to have a go at explaining what it is and how it works. The simple answer to the latter is that I’ve absolutely no idea (it’s far too techy for my meagre brain [...]
Autumn themed portrait shoot
Earlier in the year I did this shoot with Natalie, an up and coming local make-up artist. I like the images on their own, but felt that there was a series in here somewhere. So Natalie & I agreed to hook up again with another model and do an “Autumn” themed shoot to go [...]
South Bank shoot
As part of my trip to London the other week I arranged with Karolina to meet on the South Bank in London at 5am. I was very surprised that I was going to get a model to meet me this early and was even more surprised to find that she was actually there before me [...]
Shooting on Hampstead Heath
Last Friday I went down to London for Kelby Training’s “On location lighting workshop” with the legendary National Geographic and Life photographer, Joe McNally. Having been to David Hobby’s fantastic workshop in Leeds, where there were about 30-40 attendees, I was quite shocked to see an auditorium packed with more than 500 eager photographers. It [...]
Getting lost on the Edge
Last week, I hooked up with Frankie for another on-location portrait shoot. I decided on Alderley Edge as a location, specifically Stormy Point, which has a great view as a backdrop. As I knew this was National Trust property, and after the debacle at Lyme Park I decided very early on to clear this with [...]
“Ivy” themed shoot
As my Friday last week was spent dealing with the horror of a financial year end, and fortuitously I had a completely free Saturday, I arranged for another couple of testing shoots. In the morning I shot the delightful Linda on the beach by Hoylake (details in a future post), and in the afternoon I [...]
Bollin Valley model shoot
I’m getting more into environmental portrait shooting again lately, and loving every minute of it. After going to Leeds the other week for a workshop with the legendary David Hobby (@strobist), I decided to order myself an Orbis ring flash to play with using this primarily as an on axis fill. I left the workshop [...]
Crime? Project – The final cut…
As part of the A-level I’ve been embarked on, I’ve been working on a project based around the theme “Boundaries”. In light of the recent goings on with completely innocent photographers being tarnished with the “terrorist brush” (see numerous articles on the BJP for example – here, here or here), I chose to focus on [...]
A couple of good friends….
Up until now, pretty much everything I’ve done with off-camera flash has been done in full manual mode on the flashes and on the camera using Pocket Wizard Multimaxs. The reasoning behind this is that I wanted to fully grasp the concept of off-camera lighting and how ratios between the flashes and the ambient can [...]
Boundaries Project. Part 5
After I’d finished at the previous shoot, and warmed up a little, I decided to try and find somewhere on the other side of the runways that would have the setting sun in the background. I found a couple of possibles, one in particular that stood out. So I headed back there about an hour [...]
Boundaries Project. Part 4
For the next image in my Boundaries project, for which I have now I chosen the title “Crime?” I wanted to photograph someone photographing something that in the current climate, would quite likely warrant a stop & search under section 44 of the Terrorism Act or some other similarly preposterous grounds for infringing a photographer’s [...]
Boundaries Project. Part 2
For the next in my Boundaries series, I chose “Theft, I had envisaged a man appearing to either look for or steal a wallet and car keys. The torch could have been required as a result of a power cut, or he may need the torch as he doesn’t want to turn lights on and [...]
Boundaries Project. Part 1
As part of the A-level I am currently embarked on, I am working on a project based around the theme "Boundaries". In light of the recent goings on with completely innocent photographers being tarnished with the "terrorist brush" (see numerous articles on the BJP for example – here, here or here), I have chosen to [...]
