Noob vs Pro photoshoot challenge
We really loved making this video. So much challenging yourself with using cheaper gear . Meagan did such an amazing job too. below is all the photos in high res as well as affiliate links to buy the gear we used. All the links support the channel
My Main Gear: Sony a7c: https://amzn.to/382GIVa
Sony a6500 : https://amzn.to/3lwIYuV
Sony zv1: https://amzn.to/2VAoIO5
Tamron 20mm f2.8: https://amzn.to/3aVTNBf
Sony 35mm f1.8: https://amzn.to/2JwMncd
Sony 85mm f1.8 : https://amzn.to/3olSoup
Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 FE : https://amzn.to/3rY1zkH
DJI Mavic Mini 2 : https://amzn.to/3kVBQY7
Black Pro Mist Filter: https://amzn.to/3gnmt7A
Spider Holster Hand Strap: https://amzn.to/37CINX3
DJI pocket 2: https://amzn.to/3aXHnHI
Sony ECM B1M : https://amzn.to/2TR2t5y
Thinktank Urban access 15 : https://amzn.to/3dMeCRl
Weebil s Gimbal: https://amzn.to/3fUiFd6
Zoom H1 : https://amzn.to/3mrol0O
Zoom H4: https://amzn.to/3mqUoxQ
Godox ad300 pro : https://amzn.to/2VniTAc
Godox tt600: https://amzn.to/3F9eztI
Godox s85s softbox : https://amzn.to/2JtTq5i
Godox sl60: https://amzn.to/3fUsiZi
Godox Ml60 : https://amzn.to/3pANXdR
RADA Unearthed and Balcony TV! BTS coming Soon
So I recently worked with RADA Unearthed again. I took some behind the scenes photos for them during their filming with Balcony TV. This was filmed at Randlords. Amazing view!
We will put them up here on the blog this week for you all to look at. Full write up as well.
See you all soon! Keep being awesome!
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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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)
Kirstyn
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@kirst_layton)
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!
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:
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As always thanks for reading!!!
talk soon guys!
heres a few more shots! 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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
#chickswithkicksSA campaign
This past Saturday we worked on the newest installment of out #chickswithkicksSA campaign. previously named #sneakerpornSA which we changed because of a change in direction and sponsors.
shoot went very well, models were gorgeous, and all of the team worked together to create something really awesome!
My gear for this one:
Canon 5D mark iii
canon 85mm f1.8
Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 (my sponsor sigma SA)
canon 35mm f1.4 (loan from friend)
canon 580ex flash
I always have a good time working with this team and all these models are people iv worked with in the past which made this very simple for me. Some of the most professional models iv worked with. Please have a look at their other work if you need anyone.
i wont say too much more. i would just like you all to have a look at below images and if you like it go look at our other accounts!
let me introduce to you who we shot with
models
Kristin Van Dijk
Carrie-Leigh Aliyyah Miranda
Nicole Jowett
Photography by myself Robert Harris / Optical Noise Photography
Video crew / Man of action concept - Umar Bradlow
second camera - Suprise
Creative director - Tebogo Mogola
Stylist: Sumaya Petersen
Make up by: Leanne Roux
Most of the sneakers from Lost Property in cape town
click on their names for links to their pages.
please keep a eye on our instagram, facebook and twitter get everyone's accounts
we will be releasing a teaser video and a full video in not too long. which is going to be insane!
our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/OpticalNoisefanpage
twitter:
https://twitter.com/OpticalNoise
instagram:
http://instagram.com/opticalnoise
keep us updated and tweet us on what you think about it this far!
robert harris
