Tutorial – Gavtrain.com

Smoke Photography (almost) LIVE!

About 10 years ago I made a video all about photographing smoke patterns. Dig around on YouTube and you’ll find it but a lot has changed in that time and I don’t just mean how grey my hair has gone.

I felt it was time to revisit photographing smoke patterns and Olympus UK were kind enough to host the live shoot on their Facebook page. If you missed it live, you can catch the whole thing here

At the end of the demo I made a triptych from three smoke images. To save time I created a Photoshop action which automated the process down to one single click.

Since the demo I’ve had many requests for the triptych action, so here it is.

To action assumes a few things. First it will make the triptych from three images that are already open in Photoshop. Next it assumes they’re the newest images you have on screen. Finally, all the images need to be exactly the same size and shape.

Usage rulesThe Photoshop Action is copyright Gavin Hoey 2020. Use is strictly limited to any personal but non-commercial purposes.
Please share the action by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original action without my permission.
No technical support is provided.

Download instructions 1. Click on the correct download link below (no sign up is needed)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11bJ2fcJsmuDYB4sKGTAv6trw1ozW0oqs

Click the Download icon
The download should start automatically
Unzip the download and install the Photoshop Action
No support is provided with the Photoshop action.
If you need help Google or YouTube the question and you’ll almost certainly find the answer

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.

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!

Tulip Field Portrait Shoot

We were incredibly lucky to be allowed to do a portrait shoot in the amazing tulip fields of Mark & Susanne in Norfolk recently. Something usually prohibited as it compromises the crop and many other factors.

We had a couple of hours of shooting with Mark, the tulip farmer, with Gavin giving some tips before meeting with Jade Lyon to do a portrait tutorial. Mark also shot some drone footage for us which you can see in the final edit.

The weather was rather changeable (typical UK). We dodged a few showers and had to deal with very breezy conditions (to the detriment of a softbox as we forgot the sandbag!) with harsh sunlight too! Quite a challenging shoot all round, but very much worth it.

Check out the video here
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mgfQ2dhFCE[/youtube]

The Making Of My Festive, Fine Art Background

Check out the video below where Gavin shares how he made this festive background. If you’re short on time use the one he already created here

We hope you enjoy the video and get the chance to try out the technique with your own spin on it!

If you missed it, here’s the video of the shoot we created this template for.