Unwanted Cloud Effect

To all Advanced Photoshop forum users, this is the image i'm referring to.
Thanks.

Old Stockyards

I went up to the Dharug National park recently. This was an area of NSW i had never visited before and was surprised by the beauty of the area being so close to Sydney. This image was taken on the old stock route road leading from St Albans to Bucketty.
This image was taken on a 3mb compact camera a few years back. After sitting in my 'to process' folder for 3 years, i finally found the inspiration and mood to finish it. Small file images can be just as grand as 21 mb monsters.

Song For The Mute fashion shoot

A new label to look out for next winter is Song For The Mute. A Sydney base fashion label with heaps of energy and talent. This is a few shots from there new look.

The brief from the client was dark and moody, barren and decay, to suit their goth/ninja inspired clothing. This shoot was all about lighting, a single soft box placed directly over the talent gave strong shadows on the face and clothing which was the dramatic effect i was after. I didn't light any of the background as i wanted it to fall off to black quickly, giving the images a feeling of isolation and loneliness. I found an old disused factory and secured its use from the owner. There were bits and pieces of junk still lying around the factory and these were used as simple props to break up the floor and wall in the background.
This was a full scale production with may hours of pre production and planning, everything was organized and planned prior to the day of the shoot, leaving as little as possible to chance. Because of this the day itself was relaxed and heaps of fun and the clients were very happy with the results.

Shoot the chief

A portrait i took of a friend of mine for the Sydney International Food Fair The image was taken in one shot, with the utensils held in place with clamps, the ends of the clamps were later edited out. I have purposely focused on the utensils meaning the subject is slightly soft and out of focus. My idea was to draw more attention to the tools a chief uses in the kitchen instead of the chief himself.

Waterfalls and wanders

A few friends and I headed up to the Blue Mountains over the weekend. Met some great people out bush walking and saw some beautiful scenery. A few shots from the walks around Wentworth Falls.

Portraits

A few portrait pieces from past work.

Studio photos with compact cameras

A friend of mine picked me a flower yesterday, to do the flower justice for its sacrifice, i wanted to photograph it . I only had my compact digital at home, so, what was i to do??
It is quite easy to recreate professional studio lighting at home with a little "McGuyverism" and a basic understanding of light.


On camera flash is never really flattering, hitting the subject with a hard smack of direct light. By directing the cameras flash upwards (fig 1 and 2) and then bouncing it off a reflector (fig 3), it was possible to create a nicer overhead light, creating a moody soft light. The background was simply my bed cover with the area behind the flower built up to create a seamless background.

To direct the camera flash, i used a piece of foil and sticky tape. The reflector was of the collapsible kind that i carry on location, but a white bit of cardboard, mirror, newspaper would have easily worked. Each reflector creates its own unique light and color and it is worth experimenting with different materials.
The image on the left is taken with direct, traditional flash. The right uses the technique described above. The whole process took about 20 minutes, not a long time to achieve a very satifying and beautiful image.

Artist: Beats Off

This is a CD I shot with a local Sydney Hip Hop artist. The brief was that he wanted the artwork to represent his journey with his music. We decided to shoot the whole thing in Kings Cross as that played a heavy influence in his life and music.


He had an idea of the foldout, but wasn't sure as to what he wanted it to look like. In the end he gave me creative freedom and i just started having fun with it. I love this collage, the closer you look, the more you see whats going on, all images were shot on the night and sliced together. The guy with the tatts on his chest actually came up to the camera and started stripping for us!! Classic Kings Cross. Some shot you just cant plan, they just happen.


The inner sleeve is a simple representation of the creative process involved in creating his music. Pen, paper, mic, computer and a beer.

This shoot was a lot of fun, I had a clear idea of what i wanted each shot to look like and i had a plan of how to achieve them. The most important aspect of the process, was staying flexible enough to go with an idea that presented its self randomly.

Have a clear idea and plan of what you want to achieve with a shoot, but dont forget that spontaneity often produces magical results.

Singha Beer Competition

This is a shot i took for a new competition that Singa beer is currently running at the moment. For anyone who has been to Thailand, you know what 6 or 7 of these badboys does to you.

Bricks of Berlin

This is a new band about to take off in Sydney, Bricks of Berlin. Yes, i am bias because i know them, but their sound is awesome and have to be checked out! They needed some promo shots, but were very clear as to the look they wanted. I met them the week before over a beer and we sorted out what we wanted to achieve, locations and "feel" of the images.

Walking into any sort of shoot with a clear plan and how to execute it is invaluable. Having done the hard work prior to the shoot, you are more relaxed and can concentrate on your subjects. Your mood also transfers to your subjects. The more you relax and enjoy yourself, the more your cliens and subjects will.

We travelled to the Blue mountians for the day where we found ruins of an abandoned masion. We just wandered around until something took our fancy and we started shooting. Because we had the whole day and were just walking around, we werent under time or money constraints, this created a very pleasent and relaxed atmospere which is clear in the images and what the guys were after. Go to my links to check out their myspace and listen to some seriously deep sounds. http://www.myspace.com/bricksofberlin.

Check out the link to Pour Tous in my links section, an example of some of my images, inside store, products and promo shots of two of the coolest people you could meet. If you need to look good, head down to Darlinghurst and say hello.

The updates and current projects

In addition to my website, this will be a platform to veiw some current images that have taken my fancy, project that i am working on and collections of relevent images for clients to look at. I will alway strive to keep it exciting, fresh and hopefully a little left of the field. Hope you like what goes on and please feel free to contact me if you would to discuss something or just have a chat,

Dave