Catching up with miss Das /// Naomi Das ///
Hey everyone,
Wanted to share my last shoot with the ever so beautiful miss Naomi Das. We have done a bunch of shoots with her over the past and heres one more :)
If you guys know this woman you know she always being fire. EFC ring girl, featured in maxim a bunch of times and in a lot of music videos, only to mention a few.
I also shot with a friend of hers the same day, Liam Worthington, his shots are also listed in the shots below.
hope you guys dig it. Gear used is all listed at the bottom of the post. enjoy.
Heres a short behind the scenes video that Karla alberts shot for us on the day. its only 15 seconds as its just a instagram promo video
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
check out my sponsors:
- Peak design // Click here
- Photogadgets SA // Click here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please follow us all on social media:
Optical Noise photography:
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@opticalnoise)
- TWITTER: click here (@opticalnoise)
Naomi Das
- FACEBOOK: click here
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@naomidas)
- TWITTER: click here (@naomidas)
Liam Worthington
- INSTAGRAM: click here (@liam_worthington)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assisted by Craig Anderson (foto fotography)
Videography By Karla alberts (youtube channel)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My sponsors:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was assisted by Craig Anderson from Foto photography.
Make up was done by Rene Viljoen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please also go check out my sponsors!
Peak Design - https://www.facebook.com/peakdesignltd
Photogadgets SA - https://www.facebook.com/photogadgets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awesome! Chat again soon :D We have some cool stuff to share with you soon! and more blog posts coming this week!!
cheers.
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
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
