Packing photons

The creation below appeared on a blog late last week and generated some considerable interest. 

12 x 580 Speedlights controlled with RadioPoppers, firing on full power is great for turning day into night.  However some people seemed to miss the point of what this gives you, arguing that for the same price you could get a high wattage studio light.

What this set up brings to the game is high power levels when using high speed synch at very fast shutter speeds.   In a normal high speed synch mode the power output of the flash is reduced as it is essentially firing a lot of short, very fast pulses to make sure that all parts of the sensor receives the same light as the shutter curtains sweep past. 

The poster plans to use this for getting a fast enough shutter to freeze the action of dirtbikes at the same time as having enough power to properly light the subject, and turn the midday sun into mere fill light!  Can't wait to see the results.

Head over here for some more indepth info and comments. 

Kendal Mountain Film Festival. - Updated

Well the results are in and can be found on the Kendal Mountain Film festival website.  The image of the prayer flags that I commented on below didn't win, each to their own I suppose, but I think it deserves special mention as the most emotive picture of the mountain environment on display. 

The winning image was the following entry by Jayne Smith of Burnside.

My image of Kirkjufell in Iceland did get special mention from the Judge, Colin Prior, and is up on the website with the winner.  Futher info can be found here.

Not sure what a "Special Mention" means, but lets say I'm chuffed to bits. 

Indecision is the key to flexibility

... But remember you are the captain of your own ship.

A wise man (pictured below in a contemplative state) once told me that indecision is the key to flexibility, this is a very true statement, but can lead to difficulty when selecting the best out of two very similar pictures. 

Photo by Indestructajames

Enter a new creation from fellow photogeek Dougie, to settle the issue once and for all with some constructive comments from other flickr users.  Something often lacking in the usual "great A++ picture dude - here is some arbitrary award rubbish"

So without further ado I give you the Flickr A or B group. 

It's early days, but the concept is a good un, so head over, stick up some pictures and leave some useful comments. 

Renroc Exhibition

Date for the diary - 19th of March. 

I will be putting on a exhibition of my landscape and wildlife photography at Cafe Renroc in Edinburgh on the 19th of March.   There is scope for 30-40 photographs on display and all images will be available to buy. 

There will be some wine on offer, so feel free to come along and browse the photos and have a wee drink. 

Cafe Renroc is a cafe and health spa in one on Montgomery Street in Edinburgh, well worth a visit at any time of the day for food and coffee. 

Have a look at the Cafe Renroc website or the review in The List

Corporate mugshots

Will shoot for food...

I was approached a couple of months ago by my housemate to do some shots of the people at his work, the current website and promotional images being terrible.  The deal was if they didn't use the shots, he would buy me dinner, if the shots were used the company would take me out for a meal.  In a way working for almost free, but the difference being that this would not have taken place as a paying gig for any other photographer, so I wasn't doing someone else out of paid work.  In addition I was getting shots to use for my portfolio and valuable experience in getting a group of unenthusiastic strangers to look like an active, dynamic bunch of go getting corporate tigers.

I lucked out with the weather on that day, cold but clear and still outside, so I set up some lights outside in a courtyard and after a couple of test shots got the guys from the company to come out and have their shot taken.   They are a small web technology company, so I had a list of 9 people to shoot in a range of situations. 

I then moved inside and set up some lights in the board room with the intention of some very evenly lit shots against a plan background and a team shot of the senior management. 

In general terms I the day went well, technically the light worked OK, it was nothing overly creative, but that was the brief. However I did come away thinking that there was things that weren't right and would be changed next time. 

1. Get buy in from the senior management.  I arranged this shoot through my housemate as the main contact within the company, when I arrived there was nothing from the company directors to demonstrate to the rest of the guys that this was an important thing for the company.  As a result some of the people looked very forced into doing this and somewhat unenthusiastic.  My feeling afterwards was if I had taken the time to make sure that the management had buy in to the idea and had made the rest of the team very aware of the value and importance then I would have got some very different expressions and reactions from the rest of the team. 
2. Image is everything.  Going back to the point above, a strong value statement from the directors of the company would have gone some way to making sure that the team was properly turned out for the occasion.  On the day there was mix of casual and more formal dress which meant that when taking shots of the whole company they looked like a very mixed and bunch and less of a cohesive team. 
3. It's the details that count.  For most of the shot I was primarily concentrating on the expression and the overall pose, however once I got back to the lab it was the unruly collars, the jackets not done up and the hair out of place that I couldn't help but notice.  As well as making sure the subject is relaxed and posing comfortably more needs to be done to make sure the details are right. 
4. Go long for headshots. I did a couple of test shots using the long end of a 70-200 at F4 and wish I had taken the time to change lenses, move the set up and take the shots for everyone.  The additional separation from the background due to the decreased depth of field from the long lens was definitely worth it on the final image. 
5. Get the right height.  There were a couple of particularly tall people in the shoot list, going back over the pictures having them looking down at the camera just didn't look right as well as creating some additional chins on some of the guys.  Small stool or even the camera kit box to stand on would have helped the angles.
6. Sandbagging.  If I'm outside, in Scotland, in winter, or indeed anywhere else at any other time, with an umbrella up on a lightweight stand then there needs to be a little more weight keeping things together. 

The feedback was positive on the pictures, so all that remains is to sort out where we are going for food.  I hear that the Witchery in Edinburgh is nice..

Kendal Mountain Film Festival.

The Kendal Mountain Film Festival has been and gone for another year, so perhaps this post is slightly out of date.  Along with the film aspect of the festival they have been running an amateur photography competition for some time now and this year it received 632 entries.  So I was chuffed to bits to have 3 of my entries shortlisted and put on display at the film festival along with about 15 other images, including this image by my friend and Kendal local Dougie. 

A full list of the entries can be found by clicking here (warning the page takes a long time to load) 

I wasn't able to make it to the awards ceremony and there has been no news posted by the organisers on who was the final winner.  There was however one image that really stood out from all the rest and that's the one below.  A unusual angle of a common sight in the Himalayas and one that fizzed and popped with energy when printed out large. 

The photographer information listed for the image only goes by 'pd walton'  Who ever they are I hope they do well. 

What, who me, blogging?

Yes, it's been something that I have been playing around with for a while now and I think that it's a natural extension of the website updates and improvements which can be found here. 

www.andyyuill.com

Hopefully it will be at times useful, at times interesting and at times less boring that at other times.  The current plan is to use it as a place to update my site with any news, interesting things that I stumble across and any learnings that I come across as I continue to expand on my photography.

So in short, hello. 

Andy