Charlie T Photographic

New website!

2009-07-18T03:59:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone !

I have a new website design.

www.charlietphoto.com

Please check it out and let me know what you think. I designed it myself so I know its not perfect but I reckon its much much better than what I have had before.

Big Love

Charlie

Leica By London

2009-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my first book, 'London By Leica'

Inside you will find a selection of photographs taken with a Leica M3 Rangefinder camera dating back to the early 50s

Many thanks to Mark Morris for the loan of the camera.

London By Leica

By Charles Thompson

Pickpocket Film Production

2009-02-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

I have just finished being the Cinematographer on a short, shot entirely on the Canon 5d Mk II DSLR.

The film is currently called 'Pickpocket' however this may change by the time the film is complete.

Filming took place over 8 days in various locations around London including, The Royal Exchange, Liverpool St Station and Spitalfields Market

Pickpocket, written and directed by Bjorn Tobiasson:

Gabriel, age 29, is a professional pickpocket thief who can pull anything from anyone. He occasionally does pulls on order for a low level dealer named Ken. Gabriel has reached a point where he feels he needs something more out of life, something else besides stealing. He goes on a blind date and meets Carla, a lonely but tough girl who immedietly takes an interest in him. At the same time a new job comes up, a pull where success is crucial. Gabriel’s profession and personal life clash and Gabriel has to make a choice.

For some of the liverpool st scenes we used a steadicam system. (glidecam v8)

Handheld work was achieved with the set up shown below. Rails, Handles, shoulder mount, matte box and follow focus.

The 5d Mk II ready to shoot!

We are currently in post-production and expect to have the film finished by late may. Keep checking my blog for a trailer which should be done within the next 3 weeks.

I am really exited about this film. We have a few pick-ups to shoot next week and we are also spending a day in Paris in April to shoot the final scene.

I hope to try and create some hype around this film. I have seen lots of really good video shot on the 5d mk II but so far nothing with this kind of production value other than the awesome Reverie by Vincent LaForet. This film is also going to be much longer, at least 25 minutes, possibly as much as 30.

For more information about the film send me a message on flickr or email me at charlie@charlietphoto.com

Live music with the Mark II

2009-01-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

I totally suck at photography!

I learned a thing or two about the 5d and shooting gigs.

1st - Prime lenses are always going to be better. I used to always shoot gigs on my 50mm 1.8 on a 400d at ISO 800 or 1600 and get fairly decent pictures. Tonight I used a 24-70mm f/2.8 and found it much harder to get good images out of, despite it being a fantastic lens for many other purposes.

2nd - I don't know why I didn't think of this at the time but if I am shooting at very high ISO's like 2000 and over, any direct stage lights are just going to blow out and give me really horrible noise. Same goes for bright reflections on guitars.

So lessons have been learned. I really want to go out again and shoot another gig.

I did manage a few good shots. (with the help of several aperture plugins)

Black and White! AGAIN!! sorry people!

Have a great weekend!

Serious Candy

2009-01-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

I took the plunge and invested in a Canon 5d Mk II

First and foremost it was worth every penny. This is one hell of a good camera. As you may know this is only the second DSLR that is capable of capturing video. What makes this camera so special is the fact that it does this at FULL HD resolution 1080p @ 30fps

The quality of the images is simply amazing. It really has to been seen to be believed.

Editing the footage in Final Cut Pro was not with out its teething problems but I did manage to get there in the end after messing about with codecs all night!

In February I will be shooting a 20 minute short film with it as a final project for my degree, very exiting times.

Really like this London scene. Totally silly amount of detail coming out of a 28mb raw file!

1st 5d Mark II Test from Charles Thompson on Vimeo.

Sleepy people and rain!

2009-01-17T08:11:00.001-08:00

I was hoping to bring you some work from another strobist session today but it never happened. Heavy rain, a storm and a very tired Minh are to blame. Not to worry there is always the next few days to fix something.

In the mean time. I have discovered a way to make portraits look really punchy in a metallic, super sharp style.

This first image was taken in a pub @ f1.8 My friend from Canada. Mr Jared Shaw!

The next one came from the test shoot at Lovin Studios. Same photoshop treatment but this image started out much sharper as I shot it at f/14 I am still amazed at how much detail that £60 lens is capable of capturing.

More next week!

P.S.
If you have not already seen this you should have !

A strobist workout!

2009-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday My photographic partner in crime Mr Minh Vu and I headed out to the southbank with all our makeshift lighting gear to shoot Jessica.

Here is a list of the gear we actually ended up using:

Canon 5d
Canon Ef 16-35mm f/2.8 Lens
Canon 580EX II Speedlite
Vivitar 285 Flash
Sekonic 308 Flashmeter
A lightstand with umbrella adaptor
A white/silver umbrella
Ebay wireless triggers

The point of this exercise was really to test out the flashmeter which I had just recently purchased. It works a charm and I don't know how I managed with out it in the past. It removes all guess work from setting up your lights.

For this shot we used both the flashes bare, to create a hard light look and because we were standing in the middle of the road. The flash camera left provided the main source of light and the flash camera right was used to light the back of Jessica's head.

Very little post-production on this. I slightly over saturated the yellow lines and adjusted the levels and contrast.

For the second image we used the umbrella and the 580. No second light. The silver paint on the wall actually acted as a reflector and helped to give Jessica a little separation.

Again not much photoshop, just a touch of increased saturation, levels and contrast. I also played around with the shadow/highlight tool.

The shoot was really fun and a great learning experience. Thanks to Minh for all the gear and words of wisdom, Ty for helping out with gear and Jessica for being amazingly patient while Minh and I were messing around with lights and talking about focusing speeds of 50mm lenses (being serious geeks).

Hopefully, if I get organized and finish my university coursework soon there will be time for another shoot this coming weekend. Some rather exiting gear may also be involved.

Catch you all later.

Moving up in the world!

2008-12-24T08:29:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend and while searching for am internship somewhere in the photographic industry I managed to go one better! I got a Job!

From the new year I shall be a in house photographer for Lovin studios.

They called me after looking at one of my gumtree ads which contained some of my portrait work. They called me in for an interview on Monday, which involved doing some test shoots with a selection of professional models. I was so nervous to start with but after a while I got settled. I really loved the experience. The Studio is quite small and they could do with getting some more lighting gear, a flash meter, a reflector stand and some boom arms would be amazing !

Anyway I hope that once I start I can make a case and persuade them to invest in a few extra bits and pieces.

Here is a shot I did on the day. I really need to work on my re-touching and get a solid method down. Personally I don't really like this style in terms of it being photography. To me this is digital art. In terms of digital art, I actually do like it and I enjoy the challenge of creating something like this in post-production.

Happy Christmas!

Andrew wins an award!

2008-12-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Mr Andrew Morris for winning an Award for his film 'Get a Life'

Click the photo for more information.

New Project!

2008-11-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

Since getting to grips with using booksmart, free software provided by blurb to make your own books. I have decided that I should start my own personal project involving something I really enjoy. Portraits.
I love black and white portraits so I thought I should create a book containing 100 black and white 8x10 images. It just so happens that Blurb offer a book which is exactly 8x10 in its dimensions.
Now all I need are some subjects, and a name for the book. The working title is 'eight by ten friends'
Here is the latest subject, the rather lovely Sara.

I shot this set at f/2 so I ended up in some cases only having one eye in focus. Which probably wont please everyone. Keep checking my flickr page for more from the set.

Congratulations Barack Obama!

2008-11-05T04:16:00.001-08:00

Barack Obama winning celebration in Chicago's Grant Park: 11
Originally uploaded by spudart

I wish to offer my uppermost congratulations to Barack Obama on winning last nights presidential election. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest historical events of my lifetime and something that has been long overdue.

I look forward to seeing what he does during his time in the white house to get America back on its feet again.

This is going to be a great day!

Miguel and Leo

2008-11-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

What a great day this was!

Such a lovely couple who were lots of fun for myself and Minh to work with.

Here are 4 of my favourites from the day

Ilford FP4, HP5 and Delta 3200

2008-11-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

Recently I finally had 3 rolls of film processed that had been sitting around for far to long gathering dust. Unfortunately the negatives showed that my camera was not exactly working the way it is supposed to resulting in around half of the frame not being exposed on many of my shots. I was still able to salvage some of my work which I am very happy with.

None of these photos have had any kind of digital manipulation they are just straight scans from the negatives.

Covent garden tube shot on Delta 3200

Rock chick, Tiffany, again on Delta 3200 with a backlit film noir effect.

My sister and friend Serena on FP4.

My Dad doing what he does best at airports. Shot on HP5

Emma in Switzerland. Shot on HP5

I really enjoy using film. The quality, right out of the camera is, so much nicer that what digital can achieve. For my own enjoyment I reckon I will find myself shooting much more film. Jobs however will be digital. Film is too much of a hassle for that.

Weddings and other stuff.

2008-09-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since my last blog so I figure I will write a decent one which should catch you all up to where I am at now. About 2 months ago I assisted a friend shooting a wedding. It was lots of fun, hard work and extremely useful for me. I also took some fairly great pictures which I plan to use in a portfolio to show future clients. Not long after assisting at a wedding my business cards paid off and I managed to book my own wedding. I arranged a meeting and met the couple. They were really lovely and I am very exited to shoot their wedding later this month.

The wedding coming up is a hugely big deal for me. I am really exited to see where my business goes from here. I have also changed the website plans. Now I intend to have a site dedicated to weddings. Later on depending on how things go I would like to branch out and start doing commercial advertising work. I have been inspired by a guy called Chase Jarvis www.chasejarvis.com His work is mind blowing and I find him hugely inspirational. His list of clients ranges from Volvo to Rebok to Apple to Nikon.

So hear are some photos from the wedding I assisted at:

More can be seen on my flickr. Just click the images.

Ok so on to the future. I want to get into book publishing using blurb. I want to do a book of head shots of my friends. Marina who is shown below has currently taken page 1.

So that is about it for now I would really like to start working harder at this. Its my passion and I need to treat it as such. If you would like to do some collaboration please get in touch.

Tiffeny Shoot

2008-07-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tiffany is a singer who recently became the lead singer in the band 'Liquid Sky'
These are some of the pictures from the shoot:

Shooting a Protest with the Rapid R Strap!

2008-06-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the 15th I took out all my gear to shoot at the Anti Bush protest being held in parliament square. This was the first event where I really got to see if I liked using the R strap.

There is no doubt that its a great thing to own, it's very comfortable to wear and makes sure that your camera is always to hand when you need it quickly. However I found that when I got into a very tight space it was easier to detach the camera and handhold it while my second film body was around my neck on a regular strap. Also I find that shooting in portrait orientation feels a little awkward. One great thing about it though is that having a backpack on at the same time does not effect the effectiveness of the strap.

Where the strap excels is in carrying your camera around and always being ready and having both hands free with out worrying about the camera slipping off your shoulder.

Overall I think its a great piece of kit but there are a few things that I still like about regular straps over the Rapid. One example of this would be if I were shooting at a smart event such as a wedding. I would probably be wearing a suit. The Rapid R strap cannot be worn over just one shoulder It has go across your body meaning that it would spoil the look of your jacket and tie because there is a big black strap across your body. In this situation a regular strap that you can sling over one shoulder would be better. That's just my view, I think the Rapid R is more designed for casual events. Overall it did great at the protest.

Its a really great product and I am exited to see what other products the Black Rapid people come up with.

Here are some pics from the protest:

Amp Photos and New Watermark

2008-06-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

Check out the new logo on the photos!

2am Camden Footy

2008-06-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

After closing time a big group of us decided to have a kick about just of Camden high-street, then I decided to take a team photo!

Fun times!

Website on the way!

2008-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

I just received a sneak peek a what my website will look like when it is finished!

I think its great, I'm really exited for it to finally go live. Big thanks goes to Cat McDowell who has been designing it for me.

Comments and ideas would be awesome !!

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L lens

2008-05-30T11:08:00.001-07:00

WOW this lens is amazing. A friend let me try it for a few hours and I can totally see why it is such an expencive lens. The venue for the gig was very badly lit so even this lens had some problems without flash but it still manages to be crisp sharp wide open at f2.8

I gotta save me some money!

Blues Mix Band

2008-05-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

I shot this band a while ago just never posted the photos. They are a super band and well worth seeing. I shot the gig with the 50mm 1.8. I would really like a wider lens for this a 24mm 1.8 or something around that mark.

Documentary

2008-05-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

As part of my film and broadcast degree I made this short documentary about my sister, Emma.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Fire Fire Fire!

2008-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was working at Maya when I saw this going on in the corner of my eye. Some fire breathing bar staff!

Quality Stuff!

All images copyright to Frozen Motion Ltd 2008

Ilford Delta 400 Black and White Film

2008-04-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yes you read it correctly FILM not a photoshop film filter but actual real film. This has been the first time I have actually shot a roll of film. I got hold of a old EOS 605 on eBay for around £25 then went out got a battery for it and some film. I had the camera on me most of the time for the next few days and quickly used up the 36 shots.

Today I got the processed film, prints and a CD back from a place in Camden for a fairly hefty £18.98. Ouch.

I am really happy with the results.

This portrait of Zoe Zimmer is probably my favorite:

This one of Alex Vargas i really like to:

My Road:

Diet Coke which is apparently even more healthy!

Lemon:

Currently I am looking for a decent band to shoot with some 3200 ISO film. Crazy!

:-)

Anna Studio Shoot

2008-04-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I went for my 3rd ever studio shoot. It was a rather interesting day, we could not find the venue and when we got there it was much much smaller than it looked on the website.

Anyway not having a light meter really does not help much. I think i need to invest in one.

Fairly happy with the results but I still have a lot to learn about lighting.

1st night out with Rapid R strap!

2008-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

I took the Rapid R strap out for the first time last night. I love the product but personally it did not work for me in a club situation. The only way I like to move through a packed club is with the camera held above my head and the strap does not allow you to do that. Also I found showing pictures to the customers on the LCD harder seeing as the camera was more attached to my body.

So for me for being in clubs it does not really work. I am going to stick with my trusty hand strap for the next club event.

I still think the strap is fantastic and well worth the money I paid, I would practically use it for any job other than my club work as it is so comfy to wear and keeps both hands free. This summer I am taking a road trip around the country and I reckon its going to be awesome when walking around new and exiting places.

On Saturday night I was also trying out a large leather bounce card I got on eBay sent over from hong kong for around £8 it worked quite nicely but it does not fit to the flash all that well so I was constantly checking to make sure it was still attached. It produces very nice soft light...

Image copyright Frozen Motion Ltd 2008

Rapid R Strap!

2008-04-16T01:53:00.001-07:00

After a month and 5 days my rapid R strap finally arrived in the mail! 1st impressions are great I am really exited to try it out at work to see if it is usable in a night club situation.

Anyhow I made a little video:

Notting Hill Arts Club

2008-04-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

The Notting Hill Arts Club pops up on my facebook as some kind of event mostly every week and I somehow managed to avoid going there for quite some time until last night. I went to see Henry Brill play a set there. It was good venue and Henry was on good form. It rather sucks for taking photos as there are no proper stage lights. despite this I managed a few semi good shots of the action.

All of the pictures were shot at ISO 1600 using the 50mm f1.8 wide open. I also used as slow a shutter speed as I thought I could get away with knowing that shooting RAW I will have some exposure flexibility in post production.

This was good times!

1st Big Event

2008-04-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

This Saturday just past saw me shoot my first large scale event. It was a Joint 30th birthday party held at a very nice hotel in Windsor, very close to the famous castle. For the assignment I took all my gear and was able to borrow a Canon 20d as a 2nd body.

I setup my gear. I have my 400d with a 430EX flash mounted to the side using a bracket and cord with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens. The 20d had a 550ex flash on the shoe and the nifty fifty (55mm 1.8) lens. The idea was to shoot portraits and two person shots with the fifty and use the zoom for larger groups and more general work.

Camera settings and lighting were my biggest issue and main cause of problems. I found that my best pictures came from bouncing the flash of the ceiling but, many people were wearing hats so that gave big shadows under the eyes. If i had been thinking straight at the time, the large white walls at the side would have solved that problem rather than going direct with the thing.

I have decided I positively hate direct flash, you might as well get a point and shoot camera.

For the sake of 'getting the shot' and to a certain extent following orders, I ended up shooting directly for some of the pictures.

Another problem was white balance the lights in the venue were very orange. Having the camera set to a flash white balance caused the walls to look even more orange and also make peoples faces look more orange than they should have been. Anyhow, what I should have done was get some CTO gels for the flash to balance the flash color temperature to that of the ambient lights. Then switch the WB setting in the camera to tungsten.

I did not really find that much of a major problem considering I was not directly responsible for the images and I was following orders about what I was to do. I just wanted to keep the boss happy.

Most of my best shots came from the nifty fifty. It is just a wonderful lens. I love the sharp results and great background blur as demonstrated here by the sheriff:

I am not sure quite who this chap is, his name I think was Bada, but I really liked this shot of him:

This was a two person shot I did with the fifty and bouncing the flash:

This guitarist could really play, and really sing very very well:

And here is a girl with some wings:

The images above are copyright Frozen Motion Ltd 2008

I took over 1700 images over almost a 12 hour period 5pm till 5am. Getting back to my hotel I was shattered. I set my alarm for 8.20 to see if I could catch my included breakfast...that was so not going to happen. I went straight back to bed and woke up later at around 11.20

I was greeted by something I do not think I am supposed to see in April... SNOW! I just had to take a picture:

I packed up all my gear and checked out. There was supposed to be a breakfast going on and I went to check it out back at the venue. It was mostly a sporadic collection of hungover and still drunk people who had just come out of never never land. I was shattered myself and did not really see the need for more pictures.

I decided to go and find myself a nice cafe on the high street. I sat in this warm cafe with a Large cappuccino, a breakfast sandwich with sausage tomato and bacon and my current book. It was amazing! I got to have some proper time to myself and to recover from the night before.

I had planned to stay in Windsor for longer and take photos but seeing as I had lots of stuff with me and nowhere to put it I headed for the train station.

To get back to London I had to change trains at Slough. While waiting I took this picture... which also looked way better in black and white:

I was very tired once home. So I decided to go and check out the Notting Hill Arts Club and have a few beers with some artistic friends who sing and make people laugh! I stayed for a bit took some photos and left, picked up a Nandos on the way home and slept and slept and slept, and it was good.

Crystal on Friday

2008-04-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

Friday in Crystal was quite good, it has not got the party atmosphere that it had a few months ago but It should come back some time. I was shooting using ISO 1600 f2.8 and around 1/20th. Basically I am trying to bring out the background more.

Taking a photo of yourself with a SLR is not that easy, I like this one tho. Its me and my friend Helen.

This is possibly my favorite photo I have taken in Crystal. I sold it and it looked great printed out. Both girls have fantastic bright eyes and a purple light happened to be on the back wall giving it a really nice look.

Bringing out the lights in the background! Crystal does have great lighting, probably the best I have ever seen.

Images copyright Frozen Motion 2008

Lunky Lights Walls in Maya

2008-04-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Maya has these great walls which change color. I thought it would look cool to do a silhouette type of shot. I also bumped into some people I used to go to school with so There is a picture of them also.

Good Times!

Images Copyright Frozen Motion 2008

Manner @ The Water Rats

2008-04-06T07:38:00.001-07:00

Manner, a band I have now done pictures for 3 times played the Water Rats in Kings Cross. I like the venue as its got better lights than most venues of its size. The pictures came out good. I was shooting with my 50mm f1.8 lens as I do for all live music. I also took a polaroid camera just for fun. Its a great thing polaroid. Its such a shame that they do not make the film any more and that it costs £12.99 for 10 shots. With 9 shots you can stick them in a square on your wall and that looks quite cool as you will see in the pictures.

More photos from this gig can be found on my Flickr page.

Akon @ Crystal

2008-03-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Akon night at Crystal. Here are 2 of him and 3 other nice ones I took tonight.

Images copyright Frozen Motion Ltd 2008

Work @ Maya London

2008-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight was great. It is now 4.41am and I for some crazy reason am still up. I was working tonight at Maya on Dean Street. There was a special party which meant I arrived at 8pm rather than my usual 11pm. Tonight I was the first night where I was trying out a flash bracket i.e. mounting the flash to the left of the lens rather than directly on top via the hotshoe. Apparently it is supposed to give better results in terms of lighting. I think It does. The lighting on some of my images looked really good. I was also using slower shutter speeds and rear curtain sync flash.

The girls who work at Maya, just beautiful.

The DJ (who was fantastic)

A girl with a great pair of.. eyes! (no actually eyes, really..check em out)

One more gorgeous waitress!

Click on any of the photos to be taken to my flickr and view the whole set from the night.

Anyhow if anyone actually reads this I would love to know so leave a comment or get in touch.

:-)

Images copyright Frozen Motion Ltd 2008

Drunk People!

2008-03-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Keeping to my word, here are some pictures I took over the weekend while at work. 2 of the shots I did using 2nd curtain sync flash with a 1 second shutter speed and the other one of the 2 girls in blue is just direct regular flash.

Enjoy

Images copyright Frozen Motion Ltd

London Walkabout

2008-03-15T22:25:00.001-07:00

On Friday I went for a walk around Soho and Westminster with my friend Namia. We are both taking a Photography in the Media class and needed some inspiration. Namia also wanted to learn about photography as it is quite a new thing for her. We stopped off at a cafe Nero so i could get a coffee and explain the basics of the camera. It was at this point I took this picture:

Its funny how you can see CO2 written on the paper. My assignment just happens to be about global warming. Anyhow Namia then took this lovely candid shot which I really wish I had taken.:

I love the expression on the old guys face and the motion blur on the trainers.

Later on the weather started getting really shocking and so we took refuge under a tunnel by Westminster bridge where I snapped this shot:

Anyhow it was a good day all in all. It felt good to be actually getting out there and doing what I love to do rather than just taking photos as part of my work in night clubs. Soon I shall post some pictures of drunk people.

The Light Triangle

2008-03-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Today I set out to make myself a light box. I headed off to a local art supplies shop got some bits and pieces and set to work. I didn't really think this through very well and halfway into the manufacturing process my box developed a rather triangular shape.

This is what I made:

Looks sorta like something that you might make at primary school and bring home to parents who lie about how great it looks.

Got on with shooting some objects inside it using a vivitar 285 flash fired from the right of the camera. These are my favorite shots:

I have to say I was rather impressed with the results I would happily use my cardboard contraption for product shots of anything I may wish to sell on ebay. The only slight drawback is that being the shape that it is, it will only accommodate smaller objects. A tin of MILO took up to much space. and did not fit correctly.

Later on I ended up taking photos of a pair of jeans using the same lighting setup.and an old 55mm M42 mount lens with lots of extension tubes for macro. This gave me a rather insane depth of field, best shown in this picture below.

These two are my favorites:

Today was a great experience. And it really proved to me that you do not need to have lots of expencive gear to get good results. Thank you to Gareth who provided the jeans the lens and the extension tubes.

Harmonica Shoot

2008-03-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

This evening I went to the Candid Arts Club in Islington, close to Angel station. I met up with a friend of mine who needed some pictures done of his group (2 harmonica players and a slide guitarist).

The venue is fantastic. It has a wonderful atmosphere and its full of photographic potential. One of my friends, JP, came along to help hold reflectors and give me advice on where to position the subjects. Having another brain around really helped as I seemed to be focused more on camera settings and getting the lighting just right rather than getting the subjects in a good position for a photo.

Overall I was not that happy with the results. I seem to be very good at underexposing images. I need to learn more about group lighting setups. I find a single person is a far easier photographic subject than a group, particularly when considering the lighting equipment I have. I would really have liked to have had a HUGE soft box with a powerful studio flash as my main source of light rather than a 50 year old vivitar 283. Complaining about your equipment and making excuses for not so great pictures is not cool so I am going to stop that right now.

OK so, I set up the main light vivitar 283 in an umbrella at 45 degrees camera right. Camera left JP held a reflector to bounce light back into the subjects faces. I then started snapping away adjusting my aperture and shutter speed until I was happy with the exposure. My favorite picture from this setup is this:

I like the moody high contrast effect but I am unhappy with the lack of detail in the image.

This image (above) was taken with the same lighting setup. I boosted the saturation, brightness and contrast in post.

This last image of the trio was basically the same thing with the main light camera right and reflector camera left. I think its OK but I know I can achieve something better. To me this picture just is not interesting enough. When people look at my work I want them to be impressed. On reflection I think I should have told them not to play the harmonica while I was shooting. This picture looks like they are playing for the camera and I don't like that. I think this would work better as a tight 3 shot maybe just heads and shoulders and moody bluesy lighting. Hopefully next time Con, on the right will not wear such a terrible shirt!

So in summery I feel it was a good learning experience but I need to concentrate much more on subject placement in the future.

Rose art

2008-03-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I picked up the latest issue of Practical Photography Magazine. They had a section on using the smudge tool to make photos look more like paintings. I just spent about 15 minutes on this picture.

Before:

After:

Welcome

2008-03-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the Charlie T Photographic blog!

I shall use this website to write about my photographic projects and experiences with the main aim being to learn from my experiences and the feedback i may get from other photographers.

To get the ball rolling here is a photo I took of my friend Bjorn while on a video shoot. We had lights set up for a video camera in a film noir style with one bright spot light behind him aimed down from up high and nothing else. Unfortunately the left side of his face is almost completely burned out by the light but I still think its a cool photo.