Hang on in there! Spring is just around the corner…

Maybe time to read a book and have a coffee?

Updated: Mar 8

To all my friends and family, both here in the UK and around the world, Spring is nearly here. If you are still in lockdown, like we all are here in the UK, hang on in there! The nice lady from the NHS said that I’ll have to wait until the second injection before I can leap between tall buildings in a single bound! So, I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with the consolation that we will soon be able to have friends around to sit in the garden. I have cleaned the BBQ until it glows, and there are cold drinks in the fridge.

Meanwhile, here’s a new image of Cody from the garden sessions, taken in a time before the zombie apocalypse.
I can report that we are all well here, and so is Cody. Although we are not able to shoot together, we have been behaving very badly during lockdown, by listening to Trance sessions on Twitch…
I should know better, but I don’t care, so big up Ben Gold, XiJaro And Pitch, Armin Van Buuren & ASOT and PSYMILL, and big up AstraZeneca and the NHS!

I hope you enjoy the image – Colin

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Pixel Peepers’ Notes & Newbie Hints & Tips:

Sony A7R III FE85mm 1.4GM @ f2.5 1/800 sec – ISO100 – Handheld – AP – Pattern Metering

Shot during the garden sessions, this portrait shows the quality of the 85mm 1.4GM lens. It’s a good demonstration of just how shallow the depth of field is too. Even at f2.5. The leading eye is pin sharp. The trailing eye is totally soft just as I like it.

The lighting and Image processing: You can see that the model is in the shade on a bright sunny day. I am actually using a white reflector above her head to create the shade.

FYI: This makes the foreground a little cold on the RAW file, so I have graded the foreground accordingly by adding a little saturation and yellow to balance it to the background grass. The more experienced shooters will see the focal plane and be able to tell that I was shooting pointing downwards.

Newbies should look at the grass in the foreground to see where it’s sharp and then follow that focal plane up to the eye, and you will be able to visualise the angle that it was shot. This is how you can add additional control to what is, and what isn’t in focus, without adjusting the aperture.

There is a half gold reflector coming in from the left. it is filling in the shadows on the face and décolletage. In addition to this there is a large white reflector behind me. It is leaning in and adding a generally cool soft white light. There is also a Metz flash on a stand that is creating the key lights in her eyes. It has a diffuser in front of it. This creates larger, brighter keys, and can be controlled. It’s too far back to have any effect on the skin tones or the overall exposure.

Postscript: I just published this blog and then reviewed it online. I hate viewing my work on JPGs. When I view the lips on the image above there is a distinct line around the inside of the lips? It looks like it retouched?

It’s not there when viewed at 1:1. FYI: I exported it using Photoshop Export with the following settings: