props themes symbolic poses model Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 18: Simple Props

While props don't feature too often in my work I do like them because they give the model something to work with, which in turn gives them some different poses and themes.

practice ones location review learn Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 17: How do I learn to see?

I can tell you simply in three words "Practice. Shoot, Review". Then repeat this a few 1,000 times. When you first start taking photos you make all the usual mistakes, lamp posts out the top of peoples heads, distracting backgrounds, bad lighting.

maja lot shape million lines Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 16: Triangles and Leading Lines

The technical bit of photography really is the easy bit. The really important part is happening the in the equipment behind the camera - in your head.

surface horizontal camera walls visible Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 15: Changing Angles

Still shooting at 24mm this is what happens when you switch to a top down view. This emphases Maja's head and face and reduces the boots significantly in the frame.

maja boots wide shooting lines Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 14: Shooting the Boots

I've already mentioned the boots. They really quite odd to look at as they seem to defy gravity According to Maja they are surprisingly comfortable and stable.

background gel tonal range photography Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 13: Coloured Gels - Different Gel

After playing with the blue gel creating the red environment I wanted to switch to a cooler, cinematic tone.

angle tilted tilt lines german Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 12: Dutch Angle

I'm a big fan of the "Dutch" angle - the tilted frame. At one time I would use an automated script to allow me to select images as shot and with a 20 degree tilt forward and backward.

maja tones skin darker contrast Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 11: Colour Gels Post Processing

This is a closer image of Maja. I wanted to explore that high contrast look of the previous image. Here I used two layers, with the top layer blend mode set to "soft light".

balance raw flash file technique Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 10: Coloured Gels Technique

Here is a test shot using a straight daylight white balance but using the blue gel on the strobe. You get what you would expect - a blue cast to the whole space.

strobe normal maja lit gel Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 9: Coloured Gels

When I saw Maja's heel-less boots the first thing that came to mind was Devil's hooves. I instantly wanted to put her in a hellish red environment.

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