RECAP: Katelin-Magnolia (not cherry) Blossoms
Posted under: [UPDATE...As people have pointed out...these are magnolia blossoms not cherry blossoms]
After the motion photos with Katelin from last week…Katelin and I got together to do more of the same theme of movement. This time we decided to take advantage of the cherry magnolia blossom and do the shoot late afternoon and night. This time, I had the pleasure of shooting with Joy, a local photographer friend this time around. This shoot was cut short by the police and mother nature (more on this later)…but regardless we got some quite good shots. [Technical stuff at bottom of post]
We picked Katelin up at her place, and as always Katelin picked out the perfect pink dress which worked brilliantly with the cherry magnolia blossom. Hit the link for more pics and the rest of the story.
After finding the tidal basin and securing a parking space, we got started finding the biggest and most bloomed cherry magnolia tree and got started setting up. Fortunately we were able to find a big tree with little tourists around and I quickly set up my octobox and started testing lighting.
Soon enough we got the lighting right and quickly got Katelin walking back and forth and we started getting some fantastic shots.
Some as Joy pointed out gave a bit of Alice in Wonderland look. With the movement and the flowy dress it did give it a bit of the dreamy style.
Just as we started rolling (about 15 minutes into the shoot), a cop car pulled up next to curb…our hearts sank but we ignored him and continued shooting. He strutted our way and observed our operation. He asked for our permit and apparently we are not allowed to do a “commercial shoot” without a permit on federal ground. When we told him it’s not commercial, it’s just for fun, he picked on my octobox and claimed that any ‘light setup’ on federal ground would be considered commercial and hence requires a permit. Apparently I can shoot as long as I don’t use the lightstand and if it’s just the camera and the model.
He was pleasant enough to say he will drive away now, but if he saw us in 20 minutes he will kick us out. Lovely chap.
So to follow suit, we took the stand down and Joy became the lightstand and held a bare SB-600 and we continued on to grab a couple shots. Not to push our luck and get on the black list of the park service, we changed location and just strolled around the Tidal Basin to get some more random shots. But the cherry blossoms around the basin were not full blossom yet…so I wasn’t too happy with those. Adding on the the fact it soon started rainy…our shoot was cut quite short…nevertheless I think it was rather productive and Katelin and vow to be back on Monday to shoot.
Oddly enough, I find the above shot quite appealing. Technically, it’s a crap shot (blurred underexposed and much more)…but I love the mood of it.
ps. as always..great to work with Katelin again…don’t need to mention it anymore…highly recommended model.
Technical stuff: this was shot with D2x and a couple different lenses. The key is panning while using rear sync. Rear sync freezes some of the flowers and the model…the rest will be attributed to motion blur. Loving this technique at the moment. I used an sb900 in a softbox to the camera right which was triggered by an sb800 on camera.
Nice shots in such a short time! Were the nicely made streaks or trails done in Photoshop? How did you go about that? Thanks loads,
Ernie Misner….. Tacoma, WA
Hi Ernie,
The trails were not added in photoshop…they were motion blur streaks due to panning as my shutter speed was 1/15. I only used LR/PS for colour/exposure correction. hope that helps.
-bo
Bo, maybe I’m missing something in the scale of the picture, but those flowers look more like a species of Magnolia – maybe Magnolia soulangeana ? The shape of the buds and flowers doesn’t look like cherries that I’m familiar with, although I live a long way from Washington.
John
cheers john…all changed and updated.
Bo, it’s a great set of pictures, too – and a background of magnolias is less of a cliché than cherry blossom. John
Hi Bo, great photos!
Can you tell us what kind of octobox you used (that will fit an SB600)?
Bo, this is good mate! Really liking it. The colours make the clothes really stand out and jump at the viewer. The model looks relaxed and real too,, making the overall effect really nice. Sweet work bud.
Cheers Charlie and John.
Vivec- I used the Softlighter II octobox from Photech, although the later 2-3 shots, were shot with bare flash I believe.
Hi Bo, thanks for the invite yesterday. I was tied up with a shoot but let me know if you are around this week.
The last shot is also my favorite – there is just something mysterious about it.