Robert Harris Robert Harris

ALMOST GOT KICKED AGAIN /// PHOTOSHOOT WITH DONNALEIGH JONES

Hey cool people.

So a while back I worked with Donna again. We planned two different looks, in two locations. 

First we hit the botanical gardens by Emmerentia Dam, and as per usual, we almost got kicked out again.... We shall not discuss why, but lets just say they wanted us to grease the gears a lil.

Anyway we made a plan and we did the shoot as planned. 

First set up we used 3 speedlights inside one pop up umbrella softbox, which acted as a single light. The rest was natural light. 

Second location was merely a fire escape on the side of a building we walked up, funny enough we had less issue shooting here than in the public area of the gardens.

This was done using the same lighting.

please check out her social media links and follow for more from her

Gear we used for this shoot:

  • Canon 5d mk iii
  • Canon 50mm f1.4
  • Canon 70-200mm f2.8 mk i L IS
  • Peak Design Slide strap.
  • Df 400 speedlights x 3
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata Backpack
  • 1 lightstand
  • pop up octobox umbrella
  • --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Optical Noise photography:

Donna

Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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Have a good day everyone!

cheers!

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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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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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Robert Harris Robert Harris

MEET MY FRIEND KIRSTY /// PHOTOSHOOT WITH KIRSTYN LAYTON

Hey guys,

Wanted to take 5 mins to introduce you to a friend of mine I photograph quite a lot. She is always keen to come and play when I need to test something or try out new gear. Lots of love for this one.

Over time I have photographed her in many different looks, and she has become better each time. It has been a lot of fun seeing her grow as a model and a person. 

She is currently still studying at Wits, and working almost all the time, but to see more of what she gets up to please check out the links to her social media accounts in the links at the bottom of the post.

I just wanted to share a bunch of photographs, from various different shoots. I hope you all enjoy it!!

check it out :D

Gear we used for this shoot:

  • Canon 5d mk iii
  • Canon 50mm f1.8
  • Canon 85mm f1.8
  • Peak Design Slide strap.
  • Yongnuo yn500ex x2
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata Backpack
  • 1 lightstand
  • Pop up octobox umbrella

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Optical Noise photography:

Kirstyn

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

CATCHING UP WITH KIMMI /// SHOOT WITH KIMBERLEY MAC LAUGHLIN

Hey guys,

I know this shoot was quite a while back, but I want to give a lot of my past shoots a chance to be written about, so heres one of my favourites, and it was a very simple but awesome one.

I have known Kim a long time, we have done many photoshoots over the time but all just fashion and portraits. This time she did some boudoir / lingerie shots, and one of two simple ones which I used to create some graphic art images on photoshop.

The set ups were all done with very inexpensive speedlights. Either using them to back light the model or light her from the front. I wanted to create more dramatic light with backlighting her.

Mos of the time the Speedlights were bare, and here and there I used a normal shoot through umbrella. I did  most of the shots using my 50mm lens. The rest was with my 16-35mm to get wider shots.

Im sure you will be seeing a lot more coming from this gorgeous woman. Please follow her on the links Below to keep up to date with what shes going to be getting up to. Show some love.

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 2
  • Yongnuo 622c triggers
  • Kata Backpack
  • 1 lightstand

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Optical Noise photography:

Kimberley

Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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Have a good day everyone!

cheers!


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dance Robert Harris dance Robert Harris

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

    A day at Tuks with gorgeous Charnè Marais // photoshoot in PTA

    Hey guys! 

    quick post today! wanted to share some images we took a long while back at the University of Pretoria AKA TUKS. This shoot was quite a while ago but I never did a blog about it so thought let me quickly share these.

    We  got Charnè Marias to come through and model for us. This girl is always gorgeous as ever, and she models effortlessly. A real pleasure to work with, and im sure that it shows in the images! She is currently not on social media much, but if shes ever back on I will add links to her accounts for you guys to follow!

    Who doesnt like beautiful tattoo covered woman??? exactly! 

    We only did one outfit due to time, we might do another shoot with her for a online glamour magazine soon, we will definitely share this with you guys too. 

    please enjoy

    Gear we used for this shoot:

    • Canon 5d mk iii
    • Canon 50mm f1.4
    • Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro
    • Peak Design Slide strap.
    • Df 400 speedlights x 3
    • Yongnuo 622c triggers
    • Kata Backpack
    • 1 lightstands
    • 60cm pop up octobox 

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    Optical Noise photography:

     

    Craig Anderson (Foto_fotography) Assistant

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    Have a good day everyone!

    cheers!

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    Robert Harris Robert Harris

    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

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    Robert Harris Robert Harris

    Shoot with Nikki Du Plessis

    Hey all

    I thought I would pop in quickly and share a few images that I took of gorgeous Nikki Du Plessis.

    As one of my favourite models to photograph, I just had to share a few shots with you. The photoshoot was done for submission to online magazines as a feature, and then we shot a few extra scenes which we are allowed to share. 

    Nikki is a internationally recognised model, she has worked with alot of local and international photographers and brands including the official "black tape project" and "paradise challenge". 

    As always I was honoured to have the opportunity to work with her again. 

    Quick rundown on what gear I used for this.

    • Canon 5D mkiii
    • Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L
    • Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L
    • Canon 85mm f1.8
    • 2x yongnuo yn500ex flashes
    • 1x yongnuo yn568 (nikon flash on slave mode)
    • yongnuo 622c trigers
    • and a 3 way speedlight bracket
    • numerous memory cards
    • eneloop pro AA batteries.
    • and a regular large shoot through umbrella...

    I mount all 3 flashes to one bracket and shoot on 1/4th power on each. This way i have 3 times the power and a way larger light source which I can use quick as the recycle time on 1/4th power is very fast about 1sec.

    Having one flash at full power will overheat and only one head firing makes it a small share source.

    For this shoot I used smaller apertures as well. From 4-7.1, this was to compensate for the really strong mid day sun, and also to give a very share and rounded look to the model, and as the background was far from the model we still have really nice separation from the background.

    Retouching is all done by me through Photoshop, and I use lightroom for colour processing, also exporting to jpg format. 

    thats about it. 

    check out the images below. 

    also heres nikkis social media links

    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiduPlessismodel
    • twitter: https://twitter.com/NikkiduPlessis2
    • instagram: https://instagram.com/miss_nikkiduplessis/

    Here are my social links too please follow

    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OpticalNoisefanpage?fref=ts
    • twitter: https://twitter.com/OpticalNoise
    • instagram: https://instagram.com/opticalnoise/

    hope you enjoy :D

    rob


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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

    Shooting with Xavier Saer.

    Recently I got to photograph Mr Xavier Saer. Just wanted to touch base and meet him, and then while we were there grab a few images to showcase my work to him.

    Most of you know He is a talented photographer, musician, and model. With a keen eye and style, he always showcases amazing shots.

    He came with his motorcycle, a Royal Enfield, which we used in a few images as well.

    Have a look through the images below, and if you wish to see more keep a eye on our social media for more posts.

    Have a look at his website: http://www.xaviersaerphotography.com/

    Camera Gear Used:

    • Canon 5D mkiii
    • Canon 85mm f1.8
    • 2 x Canon 430ex ii (taped together with each at 1/4th power)
    • one shoot through umbrella

    heres the rest of the gallery


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