Shoots / behind the scene, dance Robert Harris Shoots / behind the scene, dance Robert Harris

Im Back and I filmed a video :D (GDX Promo video is live) fujifilm xt3

Hey you awesome people

I know it has been forever, balancing work and these posts has been impossible but im here to touch base really quick on whats new.

I have officially just gone strait fujifilm and i have got myself a X-T3 and X-T2 as backup, and I have been loving every second of it so far.

More to come on that.

I filmed a video over the past weekend for a competition to use as a promotional video and I would love to share it with you.

Please have a look and I hope to hear from you all very soon.

The video was shot at Dynamic Dance Studio and was all shot on my fuji xt3, The intro was shot in 4k 60fps and the dancing all in 1080p on 120fps.

Shot using a 16-55mm lens and godox lighting.

I will try make more posts on how I do my lighting and editing but for now enjoy my video. Please comment on it and il respond as I see the comments.

Chat soon!



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My shoot with the talented miss Micci T!! :D

Hey everyone.

So I recently got to work alongside this incredibly talented dancer, miss Micaela Todd.

Over the past few years I have photographed many dance shows and competitions, in which I have seen her dance many times. So to finally get to shoot some professional images of her with lighting and a great location was really fun.

Here is my favourite one :D

We took these shots at the Centurion Golf Estate at sunset. Really worked like a dream, and these are some of my favourite dance photographs to add to my portfolio. 

Dance photoshoots always take a little bit of patience and a good connection with the model. Getting timing right during a jump is key. Making sure the technique portrayed in the shot is correct. All the while trying to make sure the shot is sharp and that you have the settings right. Michaela did her part perfectly. 

Its always great fun for me to work with dancers. They are always willing to do the shots just one more time, which means we going to do this at least another 5 times... but it works.

I took along my usual set up of gear, Canon body and lenses, Yongnuo triggers, and my Menik fn 600 flash which i use for all my work now. Seriously need another one ! I also had the Olympus OM-D E-M5 mk ii which the cool people at Olympus South Africa allowed me to play with for a few weeks. Along with some killer and beautifully crafted lenses, which I used on all the portraits of her. 

Anyways on to the images. please look, enjoy, and let me know what you think. We love hearing from you. 

All the info to our gear used and all the people involved is below.

Full list of gear we used for this shoot:

  • Canon 5d mk iii
  • Canon 50mm f1.4
  • Canon 85mm f1.8
  • Menik fn-600 strobe (battery powered) from cameralight SA-- Link to flash
  • Peak Design Slide strap.
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Logitek backpack
  • 2 lightstands
  • 120cm octobox bowens mount.

Also For the portraits:

  • Olympus OM-D E-M5 mk ii
  • Olympus 45mm f1.8
  • Olympus 40-300mm f2.8

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check out my sponsors:

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Please follow us all on social media:

Optical Noise photography:

Micaela Todd (Dancer)

Olympus SA

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Have a good day everyone!

cheers!

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I-POLE SOUTH AFRICA! /// POLE DANCING PHOTOSHOOT

Hey guys!!

Another one of my shoots from forever ago, or so it feels.

I had a pole dancing photoshoot with the gorgeous ladies from Ipole SA. I felt weak watching the strength these girls have. We were just trying to create some nice shots for their website and social media. I got to work with Michelle Ben-Israel, Aviva Hanan and Madonna Jane.

We set up in their studio in Sandton, using just a black sheet mounted to the mirror in the studio. We used one of the black poles, which made separating the pole from the background tricky, but luckily I like using flash. This put a highlight on the pole and helped the situation.

We used 2 yongnuo yn500ex speedlights, with shoot through umbrella for diffusion. Trying to create dramatic light, and to minimise the light hitting the background we lit them from the side mostly. Some of the shots we used another speedlight from the right to fill in some detail. 

Funny enough for this shoot we didnt at all use High speed sync. Because we wanted the background black anyways, we used a high aperture, and 1/200th shutter speed. this made the shot empty and completely black, even though the studios lights were on. Then when we used flash, it made only what the flash hit visible to the camera. 

You would think that the slow shutter would create motion blur, nut it cant, because the flash is only on for a split second, there is no time for the camera to capture the movement, it will only record what it saw for that quick moment. Some of the shots were even shot as slow as 1/20th, because for the same reason as I mentioned above, there wouldn't be time to show motion in the shot. 

They are also part of Pole Evolution. Which is a competition hosted by them and SA Pole Fit Academy which is owned by Megan Clare Snijam. So do check that out, they having Pole evolution Battle this year on 14 May 2016!! Check out all the links to their pages listed below to keep updated on where and when that will be.

Please also check them out if you are or were ever interested in learning to do this. Its a great fitness session, and builds a lot of strength. 

Check everyone out! and enjoy the images!

Gear we used for this shoot:

  • Canon 5d mk iii
  • Canon 50mm f1.4
  • Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L
  • Peak Design Slide strap.
  • Df 400 speedlights x 3
  • yongnuo yn500ex
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata Backpack
  • 2 lightstands
  • black sheet
  • clamps

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check out my sponsors:

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Please follow us all on social media:

Optical Noise photography:

Ipole SA!

SA Pole Fit Academy

Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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Have a good day everyone!

cheers!

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BEING ON POINTE /// PHOTOSHOOT WITH NATASHA HEUSER EHLERS

I have such a big admiration for dancers in general, but with ballet dancers. There's something incredibly powerful about how strong they are, about how poised and controlled their movements are, and the willingness to keep going over and over, especially when trying to get the shot during a photoshoot.

I had a chance to work with the ever so gorgeous Natasha, a ballet dancer based in JHB. We actually did 2 photoshoots within the span of a month, as her shoot was meant to be done in PTA with the iconic purple Jacaranda trees that we often see in South Africa, but due to a time issue that was delayed and we did her first shoot at Gold Reef City casino, which worked just as well. So during this talk you will see images from both her photoshoots. We hope you like them like we do :D :D :D!

I really enjoy working with this girl. When it comes with dancing we need to work hard to get my timing in sync with the dancers time. Plus make sure the flash is actually hitting the model and all the settings are correct. So we often doing the same jump a bunch of times to be sure it looks awesome, and mainly make sure the technique shown in the dance move is correct. So im glad dancers are willing to do it "one more time" like a hundred times HAHA.

With dance photography, to me its most important to get the timing right. With any dance style there is always correct technique. Your photo can look amazing, lights and colours are awesome, but if the technique is incorrect, then its a bad bad image, and most dancers wont like the shot nor show it to anyone. Toes being pointed, lines from legs looking right, hands and so on, all contributes to making a dance shot work. I often ask the dancer if this is right or not and can we redo it. As much as i know a lot about whats right n wrong, the dancers knows more. So ask!

ok now for gear and what we did to light the model.

With dancing we always shoot with very high shutter speeds. from 1/800th to about 1/2500th. You would be surprised to see how much motion blur you get on feet when they jump up and fling their legs  to position. So we used speedlights which are able to do HSS. We used 2 yongnuo yn500ex flashes mounted to one bracket and triggered wirelessly using a trigger. This allows the flash to sync over the usual 1/200th max sync speed.

For the bridge shoot We used a normal shoot through white umbrella to diffuse the light, but not too much to take away much of the distance from the flash. 

For the shoot with the Jacaranda trees we shot during 11am sunlight which is very bright, but luckily we were then easily able to use the high shutter speed along with the flash. We left the flashes bare, no umbrella this time. We just covered the flash head with wax paper which just diffused it a tiny bit, but maximised the distance the light would travel in bright sun.

Gear set:

  • Canon 5d mkiii
  • Canon 50mm f1.4
  • Canon16-35mm f2.8 L
  • 2x yongnuo yn500ex speedlights
  • yongnuo 622c triggers
  • light stand
  • wax paper
  • white shoot through umbrella
  • peak design slide strap
  • kata backpack

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check out my sponsors:

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Please follow us all on social media:

Optical Noise photography:

Natasha

INSTAGRAM: click here  (@tashehl)

    Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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    Heres some more photos! Until next time!

    cheers!


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    dance, Shoots / behind the scene, general Robert Harris dance, Shoots / behind the scene, general Robert Harris

    welcome back !! 2016 !! Dance Photography first up

    hey all you awesome peolpe.

    I have been a bit busy but im back to post a few things this wek.

    I would like to welcome everyone into 2016, and i hope to create great memories and art with alot more of your his year !

    i have a bunch of cool things happening, and I have changed a bunch of my gear so im shooting a lil different.

    First off, I shot with a few dancers the past few weeks. 

    Alex Smith from artistic intelligence crew in south africa was first. I shot this using natural light and some speedlights. 

    • my canon 5dmkiii
    • Canon 50mm f1.4
    • Df 400 speedlights.
    • and one pop up octobox.
    _MGL0290ssdd.jpg

    Here is a behind the scenes clip we took which was for instagram hence why its 15 seconds. filmed by the awesome Karla Alberts!

     

    I wont share them all but if you keen to see more remmeber to check our instagram @opticalnoise and facebook account for more

    https://www.facebook.com/OpticalNoisefanpage/

    Hope you guys like them. 

    please check out my sponsors too

    will post more work a lil later. 

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    general, dance Robert Harris general, dance Robert Harris

    A look into my dance photography

    Hey all I know that I have been quiet since I left on my trip to Cape Town in July. During my stay I had my camera bag and gear stolen and it kind of threw me off quite a bit. So lets get back into it.

    I have decided to start off with sharing some info about my dance photography and why I adore it so much. Also a little info into how I freeze motion with flash (speed lights)

    I have always been around dancers, and now recently I have been able to photographed a lot of dancers. Which makes me very happy.  :D

    Some was photographed using flash, and some of the older shots were shot without flash. Most recently I have been working a lot with speed lights so that I can utilize the High Speed sync function.

    With dancers moving so fast you sit with the decision of is the slight or heavy motion blur ok or not, do you prefer frozen solid or a slight feel of movement? I try getting both, all depending what I feel is more important at the time. Most of the time a sharp frozen in time is key for me.

    Now to make a dancer freeze solid you need to shoot with a very fast shutter speed, and with most sync speeds of 1/160th or 1/200th is way too slow. Especially when it comes to break dancers or ballerinas. Some of the moves they remain still and that’s easy enough but when a foot or arm has to be swung to get to the climax of the movement then the shutter speed is key.

    I have noticed that anything under 1/800th is never sharp. So my go to speed for these shoots are 1/800th and 1/1000th. I would go faster but the flash can’t handle it always and I end up killing the flashes. When I get more speed lights this will be more suitable. For now I work off 2 yongnuo YN500ex flashes. Which are around 1/4th power or 1/2 power. Full power also kills the flash when fired too much, and I usually mount both on one bracket, and either bare or with a shoot through umbrella depending on the light situation.

    With HSS you need a much higher power output to make it affect the image at all. Do a quick test shoot a photo at 1/200th, then at 1/250th. The difference of HSS is seen easily.

    I only use Eneloop pro batteries, which goes a long way when I do this.  They recycle quite fast and don’t overheat easy.

    Using flash just allows you to create a very unique light effect on the dancer, which creates contrast and makes it different. Shooting without flash at super high speeds is pretty simple. If you can anticipate and time the move nicely that’s all it is, but with flash the look of the image using strobist techniques will create a nice feel.

    Here is a photo I took in Jhb CBD a while back of bboy Lab-A . No flash, just high iso, with a canon 85mm f1.8 wide open and the only here’s we had was an above streetlight

     

    Then here is a shot of Bboy Curse in Cape Town shot using high-speed sync (1/2000th)

     

    I love speed lights because of the uses they have. I have completely moved away from studio strobes. If I could afford a strobe like an elinchrom ranger or profoto B1 then maybe id do that. But even with my in studio work I have been using only speed lights. Maybe I will do another write up on using speed lights to do studio work. Just remember light is light, however you can get it into the shot, it will work.

    I can do a more in depth write up on the exact settings for each shot if you guys are keen to know more. But this is my introduction: D

    Check my site

    www.opticalnoise.net

    Instagram @opticalnoise

    Keen to hear from you all. Lets hope they publish it.

    I will try attaching a bunch of images to this as well.

    Enjoy

    #Speedlightsonly

    More of my dance photos with and without flash all together

           


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