Now some photographers love to embrace spontaneity. They will turn up at a location or a studio with no previous knowledge of the situation believing this gives them a freshness of vision that is a vital ingredient for the finished image. Three cheers for them but I am a planner. I like to know exactly what I’m doing and can be a little obsessed when it comes to preparation. This assignment had all the hallmarks of a control freak’s nightmare so I was keen to reduce the variables as much as possible in every way. My vision was an image of the dedicated swimmer out in all weathers to maintain her training schedule. I wanted rain but I have experience in this area. I was once waste deep in a bog in Wales shooting for the world bog snorkeling championships with battery powered lighting and I can tell you it’s a whole world of pain when the rain starts to make your flash heads fizz and crackle. I also wanted to capture the feeling of a private moment within a busy city, waking up in the early morning. Location flash was needed to accentuate the feeling of the morning sun and the city lights as well as providing controllable depth, contrast and character to the shot. Backlighting is the building block of most of my images but how do you do that when you need to be placing lighting stands in the middle of a fast flowing river?

I own and work with a mixture of Profoto and Elinchrom lighting systems, in studio and on location and frankly I like them both. I had not worked with the new Elinchrom ELB units but I had a hunch that they might be just the job for this challenging location. I had heard that their weather proofing was superb and I wanted something small and light weight with a reliable remote control transiever to adjust hard to get to lights. The Thames is famously tidal so I decided to find a location where I could position Brooke for the shot I wanted, lighting her with flash units set up on the beach and then shoot the background image when the tide was in so as to give the impression of a high tide river swimmer. I scouted the river at 7.00am to find an ideal spot where the tide was out and quickly drew up a short list of about 4 possible locations. It was only then that I noticed the regular Police boats that chugged past every 30 minutes and had a sudden panic attack regarding permits and legalities etc.

A good friend of mine, photographer Julia Fullerton Batten, had just completed an extensive series of images shot on the banks of the Thames so I gave her a quick call. First thing she explained was just how difficult it was to get permits to shoot by the river. It’s a health and safety nightmare and can take months to organize. Now, I’m not one to break the law but I have a pet hatred for little men in big boots. I knew that if I opened up this conversation it was likely to end in a forest full of paperwork and frankly this was just not the shoot to do that. I resolved to make sure we stayed on the public ramp part of the river and this helped me decide on exactly which location we would use. The other revelation she imparted was that the tides change literally every day. Aaaargh! One phone call had just unveiled a potential disaster for the whole shoot! My carefully timed reccy was completely irrelevant as the state of the tide today at 7.00am is not the same as tomorrow at 7.00am. Julia led me to a handy online tidal chart that is essential for any rower, swimmer or photographer in the area.

I changed the date of the shoot and set about gathering my team, essential for any good location shoot. Two assistants, make up artist and video cameraman to record the day. Brooke brought her own out-fits which I supplemented with a few bits of my own and her mother/manger Laura was an excellent stylist being the owner of a swimwear store in Florida and a formidable athlete in her own right.

I always insist that unfamiliar kit is delivered to me the day before a shoot but having shot with the Quadra units before I found the ELB kit pretty familiar. To be honest they are very obviously a development of the Quadra line so I don’t really get why they are called something different. “Quadra Mk2” would kind of make more sense. This would avoid confusion with the ELC studio units and have the added bonus of a ready made following of enthusiastic location flash fans. It’s worth noting that the ELB is a Quadra update that gives more in virtually every department. It is definitely not just a re-badge.

For those of you that are not familiar with Elinchrom Quadra lights they are stupidly compact battery and head units that pump out around 400ws per pack via 2 sockets that can be used on full power through a single socket or 2:1 ratio with two. The original Quadra Rangers were lead battery powered but are now available using an optional Lithium unit. The ELB comes with a Lithium battery that out performs the lead by 350 full power flashes to 150, weighs 60% less and recharges 25% faster. Its also smaller and altogether just a better battery. The unit itself actually puts out 425ws in total and has a host of great features that contemporary Elinchrom customers will find rather familiar. The ELB offers the same programmable multi strobing feature found on the ELC monobloc heads. Up to 20 flashes per second, which is a faster frame rate than any standard DSLR can deliver…incredible! The ELB also delivers the latest Hi Synch (HS) facility using Elinchrom’s own Skyport Plus HS Transmitter that can be used throughout the majority of the modern Elinchrom range. The true genius of the ELB system is the availability of completely different types of flash head. The photographer chooses the head that most suits his work and he or she has three heads to choose from.

The ‘Action’ head offers a blistering fast flash duration and can only be used in normal 1/200 sec flash synch or ‘X’ mode. This is designed for when the flash is being used to stop action and not the shutter speed. With a duration of up to 1/2800^th sec it will make a flying skateboarder pin sharp in the sky. It can even be used with slow shutter speeds when combined with rear or front curtain synch settings to give creative blur followed by pin sharp accuracy. Unlike most other units the ELB delivers its fastest flash durations at the higher power settings which is a great way of ensuring that you get all the power when you really need it.

The ‘HS’ head stops action in a completely different way. Without the need for extensive Pocket Wizard reprogramming the HS heads can synch with your DSLR at up to 1/8000 sec. With the dedicated Skyport HS system there is virtually no banding or vignetting problems and the set up is very simple. It uses a slow flash duration, 1/550^th sec, to act as a superfast continuous light source and is ideal to mix with ambient daylight. Inevitably you will loose some of the power as you are still clipping the flash curve but it supplies far less power loss than the strobing option found on your speed lites and indeed on the Profoto B1 or B2. The effect of this is also useful if you want to shoot outdoor fashion or portraiture with shallow depth of field even on a very sunny day.

The ‘Pro’ heads are a combination of both of the above. Offering a good flash duration that can be Hi Synched but not as effectively as the HS head. They are more versatile and closest to a regular flash head with a duration of 1/1200^th sec.

Amongst all this techno wizardary it was the ELB’s weather protection system and its compact size that attracted me to them for my shoot. I wanted a powerful unit that I could hide in the scene and know that the wind and rain would not be a problem. Virtually every part of the ELB pack has rubberized seals and caps so they are very well protected.

I shot with Pro heads and hid the first light behind the central pillar in the scene and the other just off camera to her right. Both were set up with standard light shapers and the front fill was produced using my regular Elinchrom one metre square soft-box over the camera fitted to the ELB via the converter ring due to the fact that the ELB has a smaller connector fitting. Shooting with my Canon 5D Mk4 and trusty 24-70 set at 24 mm at f16 gave me the landscape detail and the drama that I wanted. The background was actually shot on the following day when I returned on my own during high tide. I was careful to mark the position and height of the camera but when returning I decided to get a better view on the scene by moving slightly higher on the ramp whilst keeping the diagonal wooden board at exactly the same angle and distance from the camera. I treated the landscape as an HDR image with 5 exposures processed in Photomatix and I mimicked the effect on Brooke using a series of adjustment layers that I have developed over the years in within Photoshop.

My amazing make-up artist Rosie Scott was responsible not only for the face but also Brooke’s legs which, believe me, were turning a strange shade of blue in the cold weather. Brooke will be depressed to hear that I have done shoots like this before when I have shot the model in studio and dropped them into a pre-shot landscape scene. This is perfectly do-able but I find there is something about the combination of ambient and location flash in situ that is very difficult to match so I always prefer to shoot the model within the actual setting to avoid that cut out look (even if it is on another day!).

The rain was very, very complicated. I always like to use the real thing but have developed my technique over the years and definitely added to my box of tricks this time around. We had rain on the day but it was not quite at the level that I wanted so we spent time continuous wetting the cobbles on set to ensure the right level of reflection. I then created multiple layers of scaled rain in Photoshop and very carefully created splashes on the various surfaces. It was finished off with intricately placed water droplets on Brookes body and face. The pigeon and the bus are completely real although the bus was slightly re-positioned. They are the kind of additions that the spontaneity lovers, mentioned at the start of this article, would wet themselves over.

Elinchrom’s ELB lights are a well thought through development of a class leading system. The only real competitors are the Profoto B2 which are lower powered at 250ws or the 500ws Profoto B1 which are monobloc units with different characteristics. Both of these have a fabulous TTL facility and frankly a much better light shaper system (completely compatible with every light ever made with an adjustable, unbreakable rubberized clip…fantastic!) but they lack the power of the ELB in every comparison test. I have used the B1 units many times for fashion shoots and recently for a wedding and I think they are an incredible light unit but for this assignment I really think the ELB is head and shoulders the better light. Whether in regular shooting or in Hi Synch the ELB just gives you more power and more versatility. On the down side for Elinchrom I have always found the light shaper connection ring an annoying piece of design which is made worse by the fact that the Quadra and ELB units actually have a different diameter connector. I also would prefer the two ports to be 50:50 split rather than a fixed 66:33 but may be that’s a personal thing. My final gripe is that on a few occasions I found that the remote power setting from the Skyport was not setting what I told it to. It jumped back to a different power setting as I released the button when adjusting a chosen head so I quickly learned to double check every time. I would also like to see the same technology being applied to Elinchrom’s higher powered units. I have travelled the world with the 1100 Ranger packs and they are still going strong but are very out of date. Come on Elinchrom. I want more power and all of your lovely Skyport Plus HS facilities to play with it!

The final major factor is the price. The Elinchrom 400ws ELB twin head Pro kit comes in at £1655.00. The Profoto 500ws B1 twin head kit is £3210.00 and the Profoto 250ws B2 twin head kit is £1994.00. So make your choice.

Modern compact lighting kits are just getting better and better and in my opinion more than anything else they offer the photographer the perfect opportunity to express his or her creativity in a multitude of ways. Whether you are shooting complex, multi-layered, advertising pieces or fast action one click reality shots it is a golden time for off camera location flash.

I need to thank my amazing team for their dedication on this shoot as a cold rainy morning by the Thames in January is not exactly the photo glamour that we all signed up for. Most of all though I wanted to thank Brooke who was an absolute trouper. At one point she actually apologized for the fact that her leg was shivering. Her only concern was that it might possible effect the final image…top model!

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I tended to come from a slightly more market led view point and was keen to point out that awards and accreditations are important to photographers and to their clients. As far as I’m concerned its a win, win situation because the photographer is motivated to be a better photographer and the client gets a better, more motivated professional…thats got to be a good thing hasn’t it? The system adopted by most societies of a ‘Licenciate’, ‘Associate’ and then the much coveted ‘Fellowship’ is a great way to drive standards up. The annual wards run by all the societies are a great way to inspire us greater heights but they also provide fantastic promotional opportunities giving you the perfect excuse to contact your client base.

So whats the problem? Well the B.I.P.P., M.P.A., S.W.P.P., A.O.P., R.P.S. (how many more letters after your name can you get?) all suffer from the same problem. They essentially are big businesses trying to accommodate a lot of different people all of whom have slightly different ideas of what is the most important aspect of the society. In general they do a difficult job and make a pretty good fist of it but all of them in decline. Memberships across the board have dropped over the past few years and there seems little that can be done about this slide. The rise of the internet beast is to blame yet again as young shooters across the globe look to YouTube and photo blogs (like this one) for inspiration and support.

Far be it from me to discourage this process but there is a definite problem here which is to do with the quality of what you are receiving. As a young up and coming photographer its important to ground yourself with good well researched information from experienced professionals. The internet appears to be the ultimate democracy but in truth it can be dominated by loud mouthed dictators spouting ill though out nonsense. Its the price we pay for an open forum and hell, I’m all for it.

I recently ran a seminar for the BIPP on marketing. The hall was full and after the event the usual scrum of attendees resulted in me speaking to one new member who was a little disgruntled. He told me that he wanted more events like this one and that he had joined the society to connect with experienced professional who could help to move his business forward in a very real way. He didn’t feel that a monthly magazine and some potential legal advise was enough. His frustration as palpable! He ended up joining my mentoring programme and after just 7 months his turnover is up by over 20%, he has a new website and his folio is completely changed..He is a very happy boy!

I’m not looking to bash the BIPP because its not just them, the others are the same. I love being a member and it would be a tragedy if they were not around but they need to wake up and start connecting with the modern world. They need to offer better value for money and then up-sell the other benefits. Easy for me to say! But isn’t that what we have all had to do in our own businesses? The world of photography has changed beyond recognition in the past 5 years so why are we still looking at the same societies. Nothing in the world stands still and if you are not moving forward you are in decline.

At the end of the day the Societies are there to help improve our business and make it better for photographers and photography in general. Its up to every one of us to realise that armchair experts are not a reliable source of wisdom and are not always the most effective way to gain knowledge. The different societies are only as good as the members that support them and that means us! make your voice heard and be part of the solution.

I, for one, happen to believe that membership of one or more of the societies is an essential ingredient for a thriving successful photographic business. If you don’t want to say R.I.P. to B.I.P.P., M.P.A., S.W.P.P., A.O.P. or R.P.S. then get up off your B.U.T.T. and join up!

www.bipp.com

www.thempa.com

www.swpp.co.uk

www.the-aop.org

www.rps.org

The post WHAT HAVE PHOTO SOCIETIES EVER DONE FOR US? appeared first on Reciprocity.

THE RISE OF LYING EYES – Does the camera ever lie?

by Richard Bradbury FMPA / FBIPP

On Saturday evening my wife and I had some friends over for dinner. Being non-photographers it was only a matter of time before one of them enquired the most commonly asked question of every photographer. “So, do you airbrush all you photographs then?” I couldn’t help noticing a certain level of distain in his voice. The resulting discussion began with me explaining that the term “airbrushing” was actually incorrect as no airbrushes were used these days but yes I do ‘re-touch’ every image and frankly so does virtually every other photographer in the world working today. The real issue is: Do we think it is acceptable and if we do then why do members of the public have such an issue with re-touching? Its all to do with the morality of changing reality. But isn’t that what cameras and lighting have always done? Isn’t that the very skill that they pay us for?

The term ‘airbrushing’ originally referred to the process of re-touching images with an airbrush directly on to the plate, negative or print with the intention of improving the image (usually a portrait) or indeed adding colour to a black and white original. Until the 1860s Daguerreotypes were hand brushed to achieve the desired effect. The painstaking process often left visible brush marks on the image so the availability of airbrushes, developed especially to do fine flawless paintwork, was a revelation to the industry. The demand for images with no scars, blemishes, or dodgy skin went through the roof and this led, in the late 1800s, to airbrush factories being built to deal with the veracious appetites of the ‘beautiful people’. Suddenly the girl next door could look like Cinderella and so could her ugly sister!

With the invention of celluloid the appeal and use of photography expanded hugely and airbrushing got cleverer and ever more realistic. Greta Garbo graced the screens and the film noir influence spawned a thousand polished black and white faces. But the snap shot was coming to the common man. Eastman Kodak’s Box Brownie originally launched in 1900 enjoyed enormous success for over half a century in various different guises and it was placed firmly in the hands of the ‘amateur photographer’. He couldn’t do any of that airbrushing stuff as he’d bought a camera originally specifically because he couldn’t paint! So we had the first examples of un-retouched images being the norm. From the mid 20s onwards the infamous premiership of the Joseph Stalin introduced the world to the power of airbrushing used to specifically to alter reality. Thousands of photographs were doctored to remove anyone who had fallen from Soviet grace and they were literally airbrushed out of history. This is when it all gets complicated because the market for photography starts to subdivide itself with both amateurs and professionals. The kit became ever more advanced and super specialized with large, small and even medium formats available.

News reporters were, and still are, addicted to the power of the true untouched image whilst fashion, portrait and product photographers do everything they can to bend the photographic art to their creative vision. The social history of respectable re-touching began to take a bashing as a better informed public grew increasingly aware of being sold images of beauty that were not always what they seemed.

It was a company called ‘Hypnosis’, started in the 1970s by the enigmatically named Storm Thorgerson that first captured my imagination whilst training as a graphic designer. Their extraordinary, surrealist work on album covers for bands like Pink Floyd and 10CC inspired me to enter the world of professional photography. These guys were the masters of creative photographic post production and interestingly usually shot with black and white film and added colour by hand for greater control over the finished image. So ‘airbrushing’ or ‘re-touching’ had finally come of age and was accepted as a true creative skill. But there was another great revolution in photography just around the corner. The introduction of ‘digital’ brought with it many disagreements about the true quality of the photographic image and the value of the photographer’s unique skill set but with computer software the possibilities were endless.

In the late 1990s a small box with the name ‘Photoshop’ emblazoned upon it landed on the desk of my Soho studio. I quickly fired up my ‘Macintosh’ computer rippling with the power of a 500 mgbs hard drive and 16 mgbs (count them, 16 mgbs) of RAM. My life as an advertising photographer had changed forever. I had previously spent hour after hour, often late into the night, sitting next to a spotty, B.O. smelling digital artist down at Tapestry. He was tapping away at a half million pound Paint Box machine to interpret my every creative desire. It was painstaking and frustrating work. Now I could do it all from my own desk top only requiring my local lab to scan the chosen transparencies for me and supply a neat hi res digital file. This era sadly spawned millions of would be digital artists who, lacking hard earned photographic skills, would fumble their way through clients briefs like backseat teenagers on a first date. This made it harder for all of us to establish the fact that the best place for a re-touch was with the original photographer.

I re-touched my way through dozens of 48 sheet poster and national press campaigns with that copy of Photoshop 1.00 and will never forget spending days painting detailed masks then applying a filter to process over night with the raw power of 16 mgbs of RAM wurring away. Terms like ‘cloning’ and ‘D.P.I.’ became part of the daily vernacular in my studio and soon we were spending as much time on post production as we were on actually shooting the original image. It was still a luxury though with large fees being charged for the final results and still the independent re-touchers were regarded as the place to go for top end results. Agency discussions about the relevance and requirement for re-touching on a given job were commonplace with the emphasis being on getting the work done ‘in camera’. In the mid 90s the market changed when everybody got a Mac. Magazines were using re-touching on every image and the skin perfect Supermodel was born. Other software brands like Imaginator and Live Picture came knocking on the photographer’s door but the dominance of Adobe’s mighty Photoshop was truly established in 1994 when Photoshop 3.00 introduced ‘Layers’, but they don’t have it all there own way. Programmes such as Portrait Professional now offer great solutions unique to portrait photographers who don’t need the whistles and bells approach offered by Adobe. Finally everything is flexible and corrections can be edited at will by just about everyone.

So going back to my dinner party, over a bottle of Chateauneuf Du Pape, the skin specialist doctor informed me that there are more than 3000 skin diseases and over half of them can effect the face The model explained that every image in her book has been re-touched and the nutritionist assured us that a bit of re-touching works a lot better than even the most perfect diet. The online book retailer was in favour of anything that makes his covers more saleable and the advertising planner just wanted her ads to look the very best they can. (Yes I do have great dinner parties!)

When it comes down to it re-touching is basically just another tool to help the photographer create a better image in the most effective way possible. In this respect it is no different to the choice of composition, lighting, styling or dodging and burning in a darkroom. Whether it’s plate, film or digital the same rules apply. We know that the camera does lie but the essence of photography, it’s U.S.P., is that it is the most believable art form in the world so your re-touching has to be flawless. Post production is not a license to fix your illshotten images. Good retouching has to be relevant, effective but most of all invisible. Ironically, the better the work is the more the public have a problem with it. In my opinion re-touching only becomes a problem if it seeks to mislead the viewer for clandestine purposes and this can be in the hands of an actor’s agent or a political dictator. You can’t ban cars because they sometimes run people over.

Skin softened, tummies flattened and legs lengthened. All in the name of art and commerce. So we are left with a skeptical public who often complain about re-touching because they think it is not a true representation of the scene. That’s until its their own portrait we are talking about…then, of course, a little bit of Photoshopping is always welcome. If people didn’t want to look their best in photographs then there wouldn’t be any professional photographers. Be careful what you wish for!

Richard Bradbury – www.richardbradbury.com

If you would like to comment on this issue or any others please email Richard at info@rbradbury.com

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