Robert Harris Robert Harris

Time for something new!!! Youtube channel coming soon :D

SO we have been thinking about doing this for a while now. VIDEOS!

Iv had some people ask how we do certain shots and what gear we use. So we want to make a small youtube channel for this.

It will be everything photography. Behind the scenes from some photo shoots, tutorials on lighting and camera tricks, tutorials on retouching, and then maybe some gear reviews showcasing what we use and how we utilize it all. If you guys want we might do interviews with some local photographers too.

We are all quite excited about it. If you want to get involved please get in touch with us on social media. Join in on shoots, assist and learn a little.

Below is the intro for the videos coming soon, and also a lil teaser for you now. It was edited by Karla Alberts, who does most of my behind the scenes work. Please check her out too online

Please enjoy!

 

Social media links:

Optical Noise Photography

instagram and titter @opticalnoise

facebook

Karla alberts

instagram @karlaq777

See you all soon!

Rob

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Robert Harris Robert Harris

SISTERS IN DANCE /// REZE-TIANA AND CARI-JUANÉ WESSELS

Meet these gorgeous girls, Miss Reze and Cari! Two sisters i got to work with who are both amazing dancers. I had the chance to photograph a little of their dancing, and get to know them a little bit.

Heres one of Reze:

and one of Cari:

These were taken late last year, very simple set ups, in their garden at home. Both of the girls do Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz, and they used to do Irish dancing. Cari also does Spanish dancing, of which Flamenco is her favourite. 

It was an absolute pleasure working with them.

All of it was shot with simple speedlight set ups and shoot through umbrellas. I shot them all around 1/800th using HSS to sync the flashes. Flashes were both set to 1/2 power to maximize the light, and keep recycling time to a short time.

Gear we used for this shoot:

  • Canon 5d mk iii
  • Canon 50mm f1.4
  • Canon 85mm f1.8
  • Peak Design Slide strap.
  • Yongnuo yn500ex speedlights x 2
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata Backpack
  • 2 lightstands
  • shoot through umbrella

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check out my sponsors:

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Please follow us all on social media:

Optical Noise photography:

Reze and Cari

Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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Have a good day everyone!

cheers!

 

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Shoots / behind the scene Robert Harris Shoots / behind the scene Robert Harris

Bboy shoot(Quaid & Teji) /// Menik FN-600 strobe test!

Hey awesome people!

A few weeks ago I set up a test shoot with two Bboys in Johannesburg. Quaid Jones and Teji Bola. We did the shoot in Rosebank. Shot in the roads round the mall. Really had a good time out with these guys. 

Dancing has been such a huge part of my life over the past almost 13 years, so working with dancers will forever be a passion for me. This also makes it a lil easier for me to understand the dance moves, and the anticipate the timing to get a photo which best portrays the movement! SO all i needed is gear which can do what i need! AND I FOUND AN AWESOME FLASH!! A Menik FN-600 strobe! 

I bought this flash from Camera light SA, through the online store. In the past I Have been using speedlights for everything, and i still do. Speedlights have awesome uses. They are easy to use and actually produce awesome power. I have been using Yongnuo 500ex flashes which has HSS features which is needed for shooting dancers at high speed.

Now the problem came cause we struggled to make the flash travel far enough. So we would mount 2 or 3 speedlights to one and use them all at 1/2 or .1/1 power. This however kills the batteries and only worked so much.

SO i invested in this strobe! AND ITS INSANE!

I so far have never needed to use the flash at full or half powered. The flash travels very far even with HSS turned on. I LOVE this flash. 

I still use speedlights for fill and kicker lights. The flash uses Bowens mount diffusers. Which allows me to use giant softboxes and thats awesome!

So for this shoot we used the light bare with just the reflector dish attached. Most shots were taken with 1/8 and 1/16th power. and was still too bright. 

heres some of the photos:

Heres a short Instagram promo video we did, check it out :D

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Heres all the gear used at the shoot:

  • Canon 5D mkiii
  • Canon 50mm f1.8
  • Menik FN-600 strobe
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata backpack
  • Slide strap from peak design

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Assisted by Craig Anderson (foto fotography)

Videography By Karla alberts (youtube channel)

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The menik flash is available directly from Cameralight. please use me as a reference! :D

Direct link to flash /// click here

Cameralight SA (facebook)  ///   (online store)

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My sponsors:

Peak design

Photogadgets

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As always thanks for reading!!! 

talk soon guys!

heres a few more shots! enjoy


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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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general Robert Harris general Robert Harris

Self Portrait for 2015

Self Portrait time.

so i have been training super hard every morning and dancing alot again which you have probably seen the video, and full video will go up tomorrow.

so i thought lets take some progress photos, seeing as i dont like being photographed by people i made a lil studio set up in the house and put camera on timer and tried some posing. so heres shot one. i was still sweaty from training but i thought it might look cool

lemme know what you think :D

if you want to see my dancing page here it is the video is up there

https://www.facebook.com/BboyStarZ.RobertHarris

my instagram and twitter are both @opticalnoise

and my website
www.opticalnoise.net

facebook fan page:https://www.facebook.com/OpticalNoisefanpage?ref=bookmarks

have a good day everyone!!!

next blog il be reviewing my camera bag cause i love the shiz outa it!

click image to enlarge


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