Interesting little trick

One of the great things about photography is variation. I always think it’s important to freshen up your work by shooting a variety of different things. Having said that, I didn’t ever see myself shooting a scene for a glossy wood burning stove brochure!

It was a call out of the blue to create a really simple ‘lifestyle’ shot where the focus of the image was to be the product, in this case a huge stove which had been recently installed. So already we have the elements coming together… we need people, a pleasant angle of a room and of course the product itself. I suggested to the manufacturer that because flames are always a dramatic part of any picture, maybe we could draw the eye straight to the stove by leaving the fire in colour, then knock the rest of the shot back into black and white. Not the most original solution, but in this case it’s ideal. With the idea accepted I ventured off to the barn in question.

Luckily the family had been briefed and had no problem with me moving a couple of things around. As you see from the ‘in progress’ shots below it was important to introduce a log basket into view and place the kids (always a great addition) by the window. I guess some people may have lit the lowlights with some tungsten lamps, but I always prefer to use available light where possible, it just more real, it retains a natural depth and with grain reducing all the time in Canon’s range of cameras the ‘noise’ isn’t really an issue anymore. I was shooting with a Canon 5D on a 35mm/1.4 lens, as it gave me a slight wideangle feel at the frame edge, but not true distortion. The angle of view was as far back as I could get in the room.

Pic 1 : 1sec@f8, 50asa, RAW

As you can see from the exposure settings on the pic it was all shot on a tripod, and the key to making the approach work is that camera must not move at all between shots. The first frame was intended to expose for the left hand section of the frame only (marked in red), so this meant concentrating on the light coming in from the window. A RAW file gives us great control in post-production to just tweak the exposure until spot on, plus the ability is there to fill in some detail which has been blown out by the window light. I use Apple’s APERTURE software for this task, then send the file to Photoshop CS2 (I’m yet to upgrade to CS3!) for final work.

Pic 2 : 0.3sec@f4, 50asa, RAW

The second frame is all about the flames and as you can see the exposure changes quite dramatically from the first, purely because the flames are very bright. At the same time though you don’t want to go too fast with the shutter speed, as the effect of the flames being a soft blur of activity gives a nice feel, so in this case 1/3rd of a sec was fine. You can also just see a blurred figure moving away from the stove in pic 2, this was because the flames were at their best as soon as a new log was placed, and the shadowy figure frame-left is the owner swiftly moving out of the main section of the shot after placing the fresh wood. I think I shot 20 frames in all, playing slightly with the exposure and also experimenting as the sun popped in and out.

Back in the office the procedure was fairly straightforward. I worked on the flames first, slightly lightening the black surround of the stove itself as the exposure which worked for the fire also balanced well with the right hand side of the room (which was just a happy coincidence during the shoot – otherwise there would have been a 3rd exposure adjustment required). I then overlayed pic 1 onto pic 2 (making the file 2 layers) and when the window side was correct I used the CS2’s eraser tool to rub out the unwanted detail from pic 1 and reveal the correctly exposed stove and flames from the layer underneath. After some careful erasing the two sections marry to create an evenly lit pic. I saved the file as a .psd version with layers intact, just to be careful in case further adjustments were needed later, and then it was on to the mono conversion.

Apple's APERTURE software

I tend to use the channel mixer in Photoshop to convert files from colour to mono. I’ve never found an action or piece of software which does what I want, but if that approach works for others – great! With the newly flattened file I desaturate through the channel mixer, maybe doing more than one mix to adjust different parts of the frame. With that done we have the mono version sitting over the original colour layer, so it’s simply a case of once again erasing the flames detail (at this stage still in mono remember) to reveal the colour version below. Save again as another .psd file with layers intact (you never know when it might be useful to go back and re-work) and flatten the layers to result in the final shot. 

Final shot with flames left in colour, making them the first thing you notice

I like the fact that the completed image is simple in it’s appearance, yet takes a few twists and turns to get there. I’ve yet to see the finished brochure so if they mess up the printing it will all have been for nothing! Such is life.

Horror stories about wedding photographers, everybody has one!

One thing that comes up again and again in meetings with new clients is the rather worrying fact that everybody’s got a story about attending a wedding where the photographer was a nightmare. No joke, they all mention it.

The reason it’s worrying is because they assume all of us who shoot weddings are the same – that we all take 90 mins to shoot groups, that we all insist on eating with the guests, that we all take a year to deliver a book, and that we don’t even edit our selections! It becomes this barrier you have to break through before you can talk about the important subject of being a professional, discreet part of somebody’s day.

I shoot between 20 and 30 weddings a year planned around commercial commissions. The clients thankfully come through recommendation or via links to published work in the industry’s monthly magazines. Advertising in the traditional sense isn’t helpful for me because I have no control over who else is on the page peddling their goods. A couple explained to me recently that because they recognized a particular photographer’s name, and then recalled the scornful anecdotes from weddings he/she had covered, they assumed everybody on the page was similar. Trust me, I’ve asked other people, that’s how they think.

Of course, there are clients who don’t worry about researching their suppliers thoroughly and I guess that’s the saving grace of Mr or Mrs Disruptive Photographer as they are hired purely based on price. It’s only later (probably after an Usher has thrown a punch at them) that their true colours appear. It’s vital to work as quietly and unobtrusively as possible during what is basically a very sensative day for all involved. At every wedding there are a handful of guests who are engaged, will soon get engaged or have friends who are planning an event of their own and as photographers are highly visible and ever-present you should be polite, punctual and ready to chat briefly with whoever crosses your path. Don’t get me started on the story I heard about the chap who blew a whistle every time he wanted to change family combinations while shooting group pictures…

The sad thing is that I can’t see it changing. In these day’s of amazing digital technology it’s quite straightforward for somebody to buy a couple of cameras, a few lenses, then call themselves photographers. They then plough on trying to make a little extra cash on a Saturday by offering a service which they plainly won’t be able to back up with a body of quality work. I hate sounding negative, it’s not my nature, but all they succeed in doing is tarnishing an industry for all those people out there who work hard, produce good shots and deserve more of a chance ahead of the weekend warriors. It would be like sending traffic wardens to war – sure they have a uniform, but it doesn’t make them soldiers…

SEAT Sport UK

It’s certainly no secret that I’ve worked for SEAT UK for several years now. Initially in 2003 Bothwell Photographic’s agreement mainly covered their motorsport projects, but as time clicked on they have involved me in many different elements of their corporate photography and events. So it’s especially sad that a few days ago the news was confirmed that SEAT Sport UK’s motorsport activity was to end.

Marketing is a clever thing. One of those areas of everyday life that influences us all when often we have no idea it’s working it’s power. After 6 years of heavy association with motorsport, SEAT UK has decided to head in another direction and focus on something new. For me this is completely understandable, and while some see the decision as premature, I think it’s pretty shrewd. The worst thing you can do is hang on to something too long, and in SEAT’s case continuing in racing would have been a case of ‘good money after good’. It’s job done in publicity terms, so onwards and upwards.

So I thought I’d take this little opportunity to say a great big thanks to the main players who’ve shaped the project into something really very special. To Grant Clearwater and Ian Fisher who helm the engineering company Northern South, the organisation responsible for preparing and running the cars. To Mark McKenna, who was a major force behind the creation of the whole concept, and more lately Steve Roberston who took over from Mark as SEAT UK’s Head of Marketing. But for me, above all, Scott Dennis. Never will you find a more loyal, decent and straight talking guy who’s role it was to oversee the day-day running of the whole show. Luckily I’ll be working with Scott on various things in the future, and if that personal, future working relationship is the legacy of SEAT Sport UK, then it’s all been totally worthwhile.

Cheers guys…

Life in the desert

I’m going to kick-off the posts with the first in what I’m calling my “blasts from the past”. When I meet new clients and people in general I’m often asked about past commissions and places I’ve worked, so I figure this is a good platform for mini anecdotes.

One such job which springs to mind is working in the Western Sahara desert. I’d been asked to be Nissan GB’s official photographer accompanying members of the press on a trip to Mauritania during the 2005 Paris Dakar Rally. The plan on such jobs is to be on-hand to shoot specific material the invited journalists may need to take back to their publications. At the time Nissan’s driver line-up was headed by the late, great Colin McRae. The idea was to hook-up with Colin between stages and I’d shoot whatever was required, easy. Well, not easy.

The Paris Dakar Rally is one of the most  demanding events in the sport. North West Africa is  a punishing place and between inhospitable locals, barren wastelands  and a punishing schedule,  the teams encounter just about everything possible to slow their progress. Those of you who are familiar with Colin McRae will know the guy had one setting (flat out) and the day before our arrival at Atar airport he’d had one of his bigger accidents. Typical of the man he was on the limit when he hit something in his path, launching his car into a series of rolls which left debris across hundreds of meters of desert. He promptly flew home to Scotland to recover, unfortunately leaving the invited journalists without their star attraction, but making the best of this we focused on the team in general. It was only then that the basic problems of working with photographic equipment in the desert hit me, and I really wasn’t prepared at all.

The route down to Africa had been London-Paris-Marrakesh, the last leg of which was a private charter to Atar and therefore didn’t require my the standard argument at check-in about equipment weight, etc. But the difficulty of working in the Sahara was apparent after walking from the plane to the terminal building. I say building, more of a portakabin which lurched slightly if you stood for too long at the wrong end.

After a little while in customs we ventured off on a 10 min walk to our tent – yes, tent! – and by this time I was covered in a thin coating of dust. It got into every corner of your clothes and luggage and because we were basically camping there was no escape from the grit. Atar is really just a runway in the middle of nowhere. You can see a ramshackle village on the horizon but all the event infrastructure is based around this long strip of tarmac.

Now, I’d expected sunsets, soft dunes and Michael Palin type backgrounds rolling into infinity. The reality was a place comparable to the moon. Featureless, dull and a little depressing if I’m honest. I spent the rest of the day in and around the Nissan section of the paddock. One of my more notable errors was to try and shoot a portrait of one of the local guards surrounding the rally cars. Resplendent in Russian WW2 coats, with manky old guns and chewed cigars, one of them took one look at the lens and matched my aim with his rifle. This very one sided stand-off resulted in me putting down my lens, him laughing and then me walking quickly in the opposite direction. Note to memory, blokes in the desert don’t like their pictures taken… I didn’t do it again.

The technical side of the trip became comical when trying to dodge swirls of dust. I would change lenses pressed up against walls trying to protect the digital sensors in whichever camera I was using. I couldn’t even put anything down as the place was filthy, so everything had to be carried. You’d wake up in the morning and your eyes and lips were caked in dust. I won’t even go into the ‘facilities’. But the food was great. Admittedly it was only pasta and tomato sauce, but when you consider that one catering facility in the middle of the desert was serving hundreds of team members, TV and media, it was a triumph. 

Given that this had been my home for 3 days I’d like to say that I had a misty-eyed moment upon boarding the flight back to Morocco. No way, the place is a dump. I even looked forward to getting back to Paris, and I hate France. It was at that point the trip played out it’s surreal finale. Standing in line to board Club Class on BA (it was a fully paid press trip, after all) I spotted a women who seemed familiar. Then later it hit home, it’s Angelina Jolie! Great, I’m sitting here not having showered for 3 days, looking like a vagrant, and one of the sexiest women in the World is a row in front. Of course, it would have made no difference had I only just washed and been dressed in a tux, but whatever…

So why write a blog?

The short answer is because I like reading other people’s blogs!

In this modern age of getting the message out there, a ‘web log’ is a fast, cost-effective and fun way of airing views on what you’re doing and what’s going on in and around your profession. As the site develops I’ll use it to explain techniques, reflect on past commissions and pose a few of my own questions, sometimes in the hope I can get some answers myself.

This isn’t intended to be a portfolio, you can view plenty of my photography on markbothwell.com, the blog will be an interactive way of explaining topics on which I’m often quizzed. I’ll try and shed some light (no pun intended) on just how working professionally differs from photography purely for enjoyment. That’s not to say making your living from shooting pictures isn’t fun, it can be the best job imaginable, but it can also be a frustrating exercise which often involves battling the clock and wrestling with a dwindling client budget. 

So stick with me, and feel free to fire in your views and opinions. Hopefully each time you leave the page you’ll know a little more about a little more…

Mark