Creative Glassware | Live Highlights

When it comes to tricky objects to photograph, glass is one of the most challenging. From black backgrounds and reflections to white backgrounds and wine bottles, glass objects make a great stay at home photo project and with a little help you’ll soon master the technique.

This session was streamed live on the Olympus UK Facebook page. The edited highlights are below or you can catch the full session here View the full Facebook Live Session https://fb.watch/1WlI5x-tYU

Gear used in this video
Interfit Badger Beam https://amzn.to/35YqgUV
Spiffy Gear KYU-6 RGB https://amzn.to/35TB9XS
PIXAPRO 100x150cm 5in1 Reflector https://amzn.to/3nMA8qB
Olympus E-M1 Markiii https://amzn.to/3nNPWtf
Olympus 40 – 150mm https://amzn.to/3fpafKC
Olympus 12 – 40mm https://amzn.to/3flVzM8

Freezing and Blurring Movement with Flash

Capturing the sense of motion can be done by freeze the action to cature a unique moment in time, or you could let the movement blur to give the sense of time passing. But why choose one or the other when you can have both in one shot.

In this video I’ll cover everything you need from using a long exposure with ambient light, mixing in flash, and finally the advantage of rear or 2nd curtain sync flash. Even with the limited space of my small home studio, you’ll be surprised at just what’s possible when you mix flash, LED lights, and motion together.

Gear used in this video
Godox 300 Pro https://amzn.to/2Mf1Vmg
Godox Transmitter https://amzn.to/3o5SOl6
C-Stand and Boom Arm https://amzn.to/3iFUCjt
Olympus E-M1 Mark iii https://amzn.to/3iAdIaE
Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro https://amzn.to/393NVVf

Model: Jessica Maria https://www.instagram.com/jessicamariamodel

Bottle Shadows – LIVE!

With lock down in full swing here in the UK (and around much of the rest of the world) I’ve finally had the time to explore the possibilities of live streaming some shoots from my small home studio.

So here’s the first of (hopefully) many live sessions. This one was hosted last week by Olympus UK on their Facebook page. It’s a simple “stay at home” photography project using nothing more then some empty jars or bottles, a flash and a the back of an old print.

There’s more of these to come, keep an eye on my Instagram Stories for link to them and hopefully I’ll see you (virtually) at a live event soon.

You can download the texture I used in this video here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vld-rdsFAXkDEmLIGyMBG58E52o6zoJj/view?usp=sharing
Usage rules
The images are copyright Gavin Hoey 2020. Use is limited to any personal but non-commercial purposes. Only share by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission.
No support is provided. If you need help Google or YouTube the question and you’ll almost certainly find the answer.

Creative ideas at home

With the current restrictions on getting out and about, I reckon it was a good time to share some of Gavin’s creative video’s. Some of the items you may have at home, some things may make you think outside the box to create! Hopefully there’s will give you some hints and a prod to get up and try something new!

If you use any of the tips and ideas, we’d love to see the results! Tag Gavin in on any of his social media pages. Most importantly stay home, stay safe 🙂

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GxRwBxc8-8[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkeFMzn_u8[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mXg7-Juvrc[/youtube]

Dark Potions Workshop – Wrap Up

Our Halloween workshop has been in the planning for the past few months. During that time Sam has been busy working hard to create spooky props and dark outfits.

We were joined by 12 photographers for each date and two amazing models, Sophie Daly and Charlotte Croucher. In order to keep the groups small and the shooting time high, I once again roped in the help of Tommy Reynolds as a group leader who did a brilliant job passing on his ideas and passion.

For the morning sessions Sophie took on the roll of a Alchemist. Sam created a table piled high with old bottles, books and other props she’d mostly found at boot sales. A bit of careful lighting, some coloured gels and plenty of smoke gave the final touch.

Charlotte took on the role of a Victorian vampire, complete with blood red contact lenses and her fangs she made herself. (Both Charlotte and Sophie are professional make-up artists as well as models)

After lunch it was all change as Sophie became a woodland witch. the weather varied across the two days so we made use of the inside locations when it was wet and used the grounds of Ravenswood when it was dry.

Charlottes second look was a “Miss Havisham” bride for which Tommy created a stunning lit scene on the stairs of the Baronial Hall at Ravenswood. He combined back light, smoke and an amazing optical snoot from Pixapro to create what was probably the best look of the workshop.

There’s nothing more frustrating to me than seeing a workshop organiser shooting photos for themselves at the expense of the attendees. As a result I took relatively few shots. Fortunately, the photographers who joined us took thousands of photos and below are just a few that I’ve been sent so far.

BTS Dressing Room Shoot

Gavin had an idea of creating a dressing room look, a behind the scenes glimpse at a theatre style. A real challenge in his small home studio, but he reckoned he was up to the challenge!

The main thing we felt we needed was the classic and slightly cliche mirror with lights. Surely we’d be able to get our hands on one of those without breaking the budget…..not an easy task as it turns out. Not one to be put off, Gavin decided “I can make one” (a familiar sentence uttered in our house, with varying degrees of success!).

We recycled the mirror from a previous shoot and Gavin made a surround using some of my old tongue and groove planks. I gave it a paint and gilded effect. Although a bit labour intensive, it came out really well and worked like a charm when we did a test shoot. Ten bulbs would generate a lot of heat and as we were filming on an already hot day, Gavins choice of LED bulbs proved to be a good one.

To compete the look we purchased some props and recycled others from previous shoots to give our ‘dressing room’ a vintage and slightly eclectic look.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBYPlTfE4ck[/youtube]

Sporting the outfit and accessories on the video shoot day was the fabulous Gracie Here’s some of the final photos and a behind the scenes shot of the behind the scenes shoot!

Making A Rustic High Key Background

When Gavin decided he wanted to shoot high key portraits in a very small space he wanted to a background that was a little different for the usual pure white seamless look. So I was tasked with creating a more rustic looking light background and I do love a challenge!

To keep cost down the plan was to re-use Gavin’s favourite grey paper background that had seen better days. I took a sample of the long roll of grey paper and tried out a few methods. Originally I was convinced a chalk coating would be perfect. Well, it looked pretty good but took quite a bit of elbow grease and loads of chalk. But the huge downside was that it smudged and dusted everything in a layer of chalk dust! Not ideal, so back to the drawing board (literally).

I have loads of white paint (most walls are white in the house) so thought a rough coating of paint would be worth a try out. Now, paper and wet paint would not be a great combination, the paper would change shape and be difficult to work with, so I used a dry brushing technique. This is where you dip the paint brush in the paint and then wipe off the excess on kitchen paper towels and then paint what’s left onto the background. This means that it goes on practically dry and doesn’t cause the paper to buckle. Perfecto!

We shot a time lapse, I think it makes me look like I work really quickly and efficiently!! The camera never lies…………
[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9OBWOy_Eng [/youtube]

The shoot day was brilliant. We worked with Gracie for the first time, she totally got the idea and it all worked like a charm with the background.

One Overhead Lighting Set Up

It’s always a challenge to keep things fresh and new in Gavin’s small home studio and sometimes that means taking it back to basics. The difference between just a small movement in the light can be really marked.

The flooring is our old recently replaced decking (up-cycling at it’s best) I think it really adds to the mood for this shoot with the awesome Sophie Daly, model and make up artist extraordinaire.

In this video Gavin changes the softbox and shows the dramatic differences. What’s the best shot? Well, that’s totally up to you.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyRWOk1_BVY[/youtube]

Tudor Style Flash to Candle Light

After having a recce at the amazing Rowfant House we knew that a Tudor style theme would work really well.

It also gave me a great excuse to hire a costume from a nearby theatre costume hire place based in the grounds at The Chequer Mead Theatre. The ladies running the place were super helpful and loved the prints I gave them when I returned the outfit.

To make the headpiece I used an off cut of velvet fabric and the cardboard box my kitchen knives came in! Adding the lace and pearls really made it look the part, thank goodness for the glue gun! I also added a length of elastic which helped keep a good shape once it was in place.

As you can see it’s not always glamorous to be a model! The dress was far too large so we adjusted the fit using clamps (a studio must have). Our fabulous model Jade is also carrying a hot water bottle (the gray thing she’s holding) as it was very cold inside the manor house. Jade was a trooper and never complained about the cold, bless her.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1MFgB6D2aQ[/youtube]

Best Position for your Softbox

It’s really easy to get stuck in a rut of setting up exactly the same lighting for every shoot. It’s a comfort, you know what result you get.

Check out Gavin’s video to show the difference a shift in the softbox can make to your images.

It’s good to try something new!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiDcuKhnao0[/youtube]