Durban We coming down for a lil visit. :D
Hey all.
It's been a while I know. Got a little preoccupied with working that I didn't take a moment to tell you all about it. As usual we are always busy trying to create and grow as artists, while maintaining life and paying the bills. So here we are.
Back to the topic at hand. We will be down in sunny, warm (well we hope) Durban. With JHB having such miserable weather it will be great to see some sun and waves.
You can catch me shooting at Sneaker Exchange Durban on Saturday most of the day, I'll be working along with Man Of Action Concepts to capture some stills and video of the event. It's always a great event. The best of sneaker heads, music, and the culture we all love. Please do come check it out and have some fun with us.
If you looking for tickets you can pick them up at Computicket online.
Sunday I will be around town doing a few Photoshoots with models and dancers, as well as some off time on the beach with my people. If you looking to work with me give me a shout via E-mail and let's plan something.
Going to be a awesome feeling to get out of JHB for 2 days, its been a year and a half since I've been away. So let's make it great.
Here's a few shots I took of the last sneaker exchange which was in Durban.
Enjoy. I hope to see you all there. Links to some pages you should check out below.
@sxc_za on instagram
Optical Noise Photography Facebook
@opticalnoise on instagram
Man Of Action Concepts Facebook
@manofactionconcepts on instagram
@playenergydrink
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:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
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Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Micaela Todd (Dancer)
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@micci_t)
Olympus SA
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@olympus_sa)
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Have a good day everyone!
cheers!
FITNESS, STRENGTH AND LOVE! /// SHOOT WITH DANIELLE AND ASHLEY
GREETINGS!
Been a busy few days, I apologise for taking so long to post another blog, but here we are :D
I wanted to share these images that I shot last year with Danielle Van Rensburg and Ashley Pereira. Both Fitness athletes, and a loving couple.
Danielle asked me to photograph them while they were still in comp form. So we set up a studio and location shoot session. I really enjoy working with athletes. Trying to show what they have been working so hard to achieve.
I used a bunch of speedlights, both bare and with shoot through umbrellas to try and create harsh contrasting light to emphasise the physique. Bare flashes used as kicker lights, and then the umbrella and softboxes was used as the key light and for fill.
You must definitely give them both a follow, show some love and get inspired. Links will be left below.
For now check out some of the photographs!
Gear we used for this shoot:
- Canon 5d mk iii
- Canon 50mm f1.8
- Canon 85mm f1.8
- Peak Design Slide strap.
- Df 400 speedlights x 4
- yongnuo speedlights x 2 yn500ex
- Yongnuo 622c triggers
- Kata Backpack
- 2 lightstands
- Shoot through umbrella, pop up octobox.
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check out my sponsors:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
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Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Danielle and Ashley
- : click here (@daniellefitness1)
- : click here (@ashleypereira_13)
Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@Foto_fotography)
- TWITTER: click here (@Foto_fotography)
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Have a good day everyone!
cheers!
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:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
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Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Natasha
INSTAGRAM: click here (@tashehl)
Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@Foto_fotography)
- TWITTER: click here (@Foto_fotography)
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Heres some more photos! Until next time!
cheers!
Hanging with lil Red in Maboneng JHB /// Photoshoot and BTS
Last year I had a lil meet with lil Red, and then we did a few photos of her too. We met up in Maboneng on a sunday, and joined in on the vibe at the market.
I have known her for quite a few years now, first as a dancer which I performed with and then now as a musician. She has been recording songs and performing for a while now, I'm sure you guys have seen her on social media and performing around SA.
I adore the red hair! since I met her this was a iconic part of her, and then when I stared photography I knew I had to photograph her. It took us forever to link up, but we did and it rocked!
Anyway, i wanted to share some of the photos we took, share some of the gear I used and how i managed to get the shots. Heres the just of it.
These photos were taken in mid day sun, which as photographers we know is terrible and unflattering light for models. We used strobists techniques, where we either had the model in the shade, or we backlit her with the sun, then we expose for the sky and fill in the shadows with flash.
I always use 3 speedlights on one bracket, firing through a big pop up umbrella softbox as one light source. Sometimes a second flash for side fill but here we only used one light source. I used all the speedlights on 1/2 power. This makes recycle time quicker and it doesn't destroy the bulbs. The 3 flashes make for a pretty powerful light. All these speedlights are very very cheap Chinese no name brand flashes. they called DF400 flashes.
full list of gear at the bottom of post.
Mr Craig was as always assisting with awesome lighting skills! his links at the bottom too. check him out
for now enjoy some images!
Behind the scenes video of the shoot shot by Karla Alberts
Gear we used for this shoot:
- Canon 5d mk iii
- Canon 50mm f1.4
- Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro
- Canon 85mm f1.8
- Peak Design Slide strap.
- Df 400 speedlights x 3
- Yongnuo 622c triggers
- Kata Backpack
- 1 lightstands
- 60cm - Pop up generic octobox softbox.
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check out my sponsors:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
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Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Lil red
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@lilred_sa)
Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@Foto_fotography)
- TWITTER: click here (@Foto_fotography)
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Have a good day everyone!
cheers!
Courtneigh Sinead Jacobs /// I love this womans hair :D
hey everyone!
A few weeks ago I had a very impromptu photoshoot with the gorgeous Courtneigh Sinead Jacobs . Been meaning to photograph her for ages and we finally got to it!
Thing I love most about this woman is her HAIR! ITS GLORIOUS! but of course also her eyes! have a look you'l see.
We just went to the outdoor skatepark at Stoneridge mall, got permission to shoot and had at it. I wanted to test out the new Menik strobe that I bought from Cameralight SA. As iv said! i adore this flash!
Alot of it was shot using HSS (FP mode), with a 120cm octobox. one or 2 was shot with a speedlight as a hair light. Craig from Foto Fotography came through to help me out!
Heres a bunch of the images we shot. for more see our social media accounts listed below.
Gear we used for this shoot:
- Canon 5d mk iii
- Canon 50mm f1.4
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8 mk i L IS
- Menik fn-600 strobe (battery powered) from cameralight SA-- Link to flash
- Peak Design Slide strap.
- Df 400 speedlights.
- Yongnuo 622c triggers
- Kata Backpack
- 2 lightstands
- 120cm octobox bowens mount.
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check out my sponsors:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
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Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Courtneigh
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@courtneigh_sinead)
- TWITTER: click here (@MelaNn_93)
Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@Foto_fotography)
- TWITTER: click here (@Foto_fotography)
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Have a good day everyone!
cheers!
Introducing Miss Callyne Benting /// The Clumsy Stylist ///
Hey Guys!
Hope you are all ready for a really productive week !
I just want to do a quick post to introduce you all to miss Callyne Benting. She is going to be our new stylist for shoots. She will be in charge of sourcing clothing and accessories for bigger photoshoots, and making sure everything is looking right on set.
We are very excited to have her working with us on everything coming up from now! We will be shooting a set this week. Which she will be styling. Look out for that coming later on this week.
This week we will have Callyne post a lil introduction on my blog, so you can get to know her a little bit. Keep an eye out!
Please follow her and us on our social media accounts to keep updated on what we up to.
Optical Noise Photography
- FACEBOOK: Click here
- INSTAGRAM: Click here @opticalnoise
- TWITTER: Click here @opticalnoise
The Clumsy Stylist
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM : click here @the_clumsy_stylist
Heres a few more images from her quick test shoot that we did for her !
talk soon everyone! enjoy
Carla Van Der Wath! Photoshoot and BTS
Hey all,
Just wanted to do a quick post and share some of my time shooting with The Gorgeous Carla Van Der Wath. Was shot a month or so ago, I haven't had much time to post the blog about it is all.
Carla gave me a shout the Sunday morning saying she had a issue with her other booking and needs photos done the same day. So i had a gap and we met up at Newscafe Bedfordview to do the shoot. The guys at News cafe were kind enough to give us the space to work in for the afternoon. Was a pretty awesome shoot!
Carla is busy being signed into an agency. We will keep you updated on what she gets up to. Super keen to work with this girl again! super talented!
For the first scene we set up on the balcony. Shot out over the road. Some summer vibe shots. We used one light with a big pop up octo umbrella softbox. 3 speedlights inside all at 1/2 power.
heres a few examples
Second Scene we set up inside for a bunch of fashion shots, and of course some portraits. Which is always my favourite! For this we used the same softbox set up. Plus we added in a 60x90cm softbox for fill light. 1/2 power. one speedlight inside.
Heres a few examples
Lastly we set up for a few beauty shots which we were not planning. So didn't have a backdrop for this. So we used the large pop up softbox behind Carla which fired light from behind her into lens and lit up the diffuser which made a nice white backdrop. Then we used the 60x90 softbox as a key light.
Lastly heres a quick instagram promo video we did for the shoot with some behind the scenes shots! Filmed and edited by the amazing Karla Alberts who does all our video for shoots. If you need to get in touch with her just drop us a email.
GEAR FOR THE DAY:
- CANON 5D MK iii
- CANON 50MM F1.4
- CANON 85MM F1.8
- 5 Speedlights in total (df 400 speedlights)
- Yongnuo 622c triggers
- pop up octo softbox
- 60x90 softbox
- 2 light stands
- hoya nd4 and nd2 filters
- peak design glide strap
- kata backpack
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Thats about it!!! I hope you guys liked the shots. If you would like to see some more please follow Carla on instagram and show her some love!
And then remember to check out all our social media!
INSTAGRAM - @opticalnoise
TWITTER - @opticalnoise
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I was assisted by Craig Anderson from Foto photography.
Make up was done by Rene Viljoen.
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Please also go check out my sponsors!
Peak Design - https://www.facebook.com/peakdesignltd
Photogadgets SA - https://www.facebook.com/photogadgets
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Awesome! Chat again soon :D We have some cool stuff to share with you soon! and more blog posts coming this week!!
cheers.
Cell phone photography (Iphone 4S)
Hey guys, heres another one for you.
I have now and then taken out my phone and attempted to take decent shots with it. I never really used my phone to try take decent shots, it was always snap shots of things that I need to show people, never as a photography tool.
Coming from using only DSLR cameras I always found it very annoying to just push on button and having like no control. I know that new phones come with a bit more control like ISO, and aperture. Some do let you control shutter speeds as well. Nothing worse than being out at night and you try take a photo which has camera shake from slow shutter speeds.
I own a iPhone 4S, which has a 8mp camera which does ok in good light, but it has zero control. you can do compensation for exposure and you can kinda choose a focus area.
Then after some research I found an app called VSCO cam, which is available on any platform, but is best for IOS on apple. It basically allows you to access everything, shutter speed, iso, spot focus point and more. no aperture though.
so iv started to play with it now and then. i havent done alot of models but i will do more when I get a new phone. but for now have a look through what i have done. I might be getting a diff phone soon so I wanted to do this post of all my iphone 4s images first.
I also bought a generic macro and fisheye clip on lens which helps being creative too. info on pics
also i now use Snapseed. and app which lets you edit like you would on photoshop, allows control of tones, and even dodging and burning which is very popular with retouching.
I also did one shot on a samsung note2 for fun.
have a look at this shot I did of Monique linder and a bts shot taken by my friend Tshepo which shows you what we did.
Anyway have a look through the images below. they are all saved from my instagram so if you would like to follow my work please check my account. search @opticalnoise and here is the link https://instagram.com/opticalnoise/
I will be using a bunch of different phones, either from sponsors or from friends. Its alot of fun testing out a bunch of different things on different gear. Want to give it shot on all of them and im busy confirming a permanent cell phone sponsor , which i will promote through my work, once confirmed I will tell you all about it.
share your images with me I would love to see them. you can tag me in them on instagram :D
much love
rob
my basic set up
A lot of people think i run off a big set up when i shoot.
actually this is all i have usually, everything i need fits in that bag. of course theres bigger set ups sometimes and i have a assistant who helps get things around, but i usually just have this. mainly cause i dont own a car as yet , been riding bikes for ages, and wasnt ever an issue as my dancing career didnt need alot to be carried around.
so for the past almost 3 years since i started photography, i used my bike to most places.
My Honda CBR600rr 2008 :D
in that bag is alot!
5d mkiii body
canon 100mm f2.8 L macro
canon 85mm f1.8
canon 50mm f 1.4
my peak design camera strap grin emoticon ( Peak Design / Photogadgets )
3 speed lights (df400 generic flashes)
3 canon 622c yongnuo triggers
pc sync cable
3way speed light bracket
alot of batteries, memory cards and diff kinds of tape.
and a a4 grey card.
plus the lil odds n ends
On the outside i tie the light stand and umbrella to it for support,
and then i use a sock from Bounce South Africa (one of my face places ever) to cover the bottom of the stand so that it doesnt hook on edges.
and my Red e powerbank from these guys
https://www.facebook.com/RED-E-1444174479181385/
thought id share this. i didnt get a load out shot but i will do one next time smile emoticon
talk soon
rob