BIG thanks to Tinysmall

[chortler]

Just got home after a fantasic day with Tiny and a few members of the forum, and wanted to say a BIG thanks to Tiny for arranging it.
:thanks::thanks::thanks::thanks::thanks::thanks:

[simonpaul64]

Ditto on that - what a great day! Thanks Matt!

Nice bunch of people there today - thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've just started looking at my shots - several nice ones ruined with raindrop on my lens. WHY didn't I wipe the damn thing!

[puddinz]

Just to lt you know I have just got back without any mishap had a lovley afternooon and look forward to doing it all again soon
Stevie
xx

[simonpaul64]

Just to lt you know I have just got back without any mishap had a lovley afternooon and look forward to doing it all again soon
Stevie
xx


Glad you got home safe and hopefully less eventful that your trip there!

[puddinz]

OK I have probably cooked it a bit too much but here is one of mine from today. I am buzzing now have ben planning photoshoots down on the beach all the way home!

[lostmysnorkel]

So you're all home now?

Safe and sound?

Good......

Now,


Where's the flippin pictures????????

[lostmysnorkel]

Where's the flippin pictures????????

Bugger!

You just beat me to it Stevie!

[Carmen]

Had a great day, just about to look at my piccies!

[Kenny]

Hi guys

I have just this minute got home from the most fantastic forum meet ever.You know,Ive held Matt(Tiny) in such high esteem for such a long time but meeting him in person and his wonderful wife Corran was a job.Matt mate you exceeded my expectations by about a million percent.You were the gracious host,you looked after me and Jayne and last night I cant tell you how much I enjoyed the laughter.It was a tonic to die for and such bloody good fun.

Jayne.I know I said it to you already but your a fab fab person and a wonderul friend.I am richer for knowing you and for you to take me down to twickkers was above and beyond and I will always be grateful.

Adrian mate,you are far better than your nickname and you should change it so people know the real you.

Carmen,what can I say? you didnt tapdance but you take a mean shot and were a brilliant laugh.

Simon,a pleasure to meet you mate and have a really good chat.Your superb as the official flash light holder upper(even if it did fall a bit)

Stevie,Im so glad the mishap with the car didnt spoil your day and you managed to get there and have a laugh

best of all was the devious and wonderful mind of Mr Matthew Small,It was a real pleasure to see a genius at work.To see a mind in action and just get a brief insight into how a stunning photo can become real by using outside lights.I learned more in that morning than I did when I borrowed the lights of Garry.I wish Id learned before what I saw today when I had those lights and then I could have put it into practice.It was a truly wonderful memorable day that I will remember for a long time. Good mates,good laughs and maybe if Im lucky a good photo in my camera.

thank you all.you made my day:clapping::clapping:xxstarxxxxstarxx:clapping:: clapping:

Best regards and respect

Kenny

[Carmen]

Yup echo what Kenny said. Really nice to meet everyone!

I didn't get too many good shots with the flashes and heads as the battery always seemed to die when it got to my turn, but I did get a couple I like with the "official" lighting and a few general scenes of everyone else etc!

[Kenny]

Hi Carmen

if you mananged to get it with your cam.I dare you to post the "walking the ferrets" shot..

I darent post my Jayne and the ferret shots or I will get severely knocked abahht by Jayne...though the ferrets really suited her and .....better shut up now before I get into more trouble...

I'd love to post my shots but cs4 isnt working on my machine at the moment and the big pc is DOA til I get a new drive.I might pick out the best and post them unprocessed and see if I can get ACDsee to resize them.

Bessy regs


Kenny

[simonpaul64]

Yup echo what Kenny said. Really nice to meet everyone!

I didn't get too many good shots with the flashes and heads as the battery always seemed to die when it got to my turn, but I did get a couple I like with the "official" lighting and a few general scenes of everyone else etc!

Don't forget Carmen - quantity is the not the object of the excercise - I'm sure you have something good - I saw a couple of yours that looked great in camera! Get editing!

[simonpaul64]

Hi Carmen

if you mananged to get it with your cam.I dare you to post the "walking the ferrets" shot..

I darent post my Jayne and the ferret shots or I will get severely knocked abahht by Jayne...though the ferrets really suited her and .....better shut up now before I get into more trouble...

I'd love to post my shots but cs4 isnt working on my machine at the moment and the big pc is DOA til I get a new drive.I might pick out the best and post them unprocessed and see if I can get ACDsee to resize them.

Bessy regs


Kenny

Get em up Kenny - you had some crackers from what I saw!

[simonpaul64]

Your superb as the official flash light holder upper(even if it did fall a bit)



LOL - good to meet you also mate. Loved the group we had there - I think we all clicked very well - I for one felt very comfortable with everyone!

[Carmen]

OK here's a few. Tiny getting down in front of the lawnmower, Jayne, model and ferrets, and a couple of my "official" shots, quickly PP'ed. Comments welcome. In the last one I had rain on my lens as well Simon, luckily it was just in one corner of the shot so I could crop it off!! LOL

Can't wait to see Tiny's ferret shots!

[.Ray]

I hate you all, always planning get togethers when I can't make it. *sulk*

[puddinz]

I hate you all, always planning get togethers when I can't make it. *sulk*

Funnily enough thre was a guy just as we were coming out looked alot like you only - he was wearing an army uniform so i didnt call hime dotray just in case lol
xx

[tinysmall]

Thanks a bunch guys. Just got back from seeing Oasis at Wembley. It was fantastic to eventually go and see the band that were the sound of my generation. Bloody knackered though. I'll get started on mine tomorrow if I get my films back. I'll also put together a little video for pp so you can see how I would approach it. Watch those highlights people :acute:
For those of you that I haven't met befor, it was a real pleasure and for those that I have met, it was great seeing you again. Jayne, you're in trouble though because apart from the 40 minutes kip I got, I've now been up for 33 hours and I'm seeing starts. You and Kenny have to come and see us agin soon because it was a bloody good laugh :ok:

[tinysmall]

Ok, just had a quick play with one of the set up shots from the D200. For those of you that came along today, note that I haven't gone bonkers with the pp apart from adding an extra ferret. Everything else is general adjustments and not manipulating the image. These types of shots realy don't require heavy pp.

[Kenny]

Crikey Matt...

I thought I was wiped out with 22 hours without sleep as I didnt get to sleep at yours cos of my insomina and when I got home last night I was knackered-and am going to wales today to a farm with the van so will be even more pooped.Im glad you went to Oasis last night though.It was surreal standing at the guard hut with Ray's twin long lost brother on guard( its so sad we couldnt have got a photo of him to put on here but we would have got fifty years in klink) and it was more surreal waiting for the rest of the guys to come and you getting the phonecall and being offered a free tocket to the oasis concert in Wembly and you humming and arring whether to take it LOL...

even more funny when you rang Corran to tell the the good news:stir::stir:

well,so far the photos have been fab.Carmen,love the "hellllp meee" shot of Matt.Reminded me of the perils of penelope pitstop...Jayne is going to lurve the ferret shots-NOTE i did say ferrets this time and not dog.I couldnt live it down at Twickkers as everyone took the pee out of me for it LOL

Love your interpretation of Matt's fiendish ideas.It is a corking shot.

Matt,that set up shot is a fab one but I would love to see a final shot of the two moody ones you showed us on the screen of the D200.I know you said you wouldnt probably use them but they were WOW shots.The models even said so.

I loved looking at the Mamya and that viewfinder was to die for and I cant wait to be using one myself come september(albeit with a digital back ;-)

have to say that the models yesterday were just wonderful to work with and up for anything.Even sitting in the naffi they were a good laugh and they were really,really stunning to photograph.Even the quality photos that have been posted dont do them justice.

Im feeling very flat now cos I had such a wonderful time.Even the back crippling me now hasnt spoilt what for me was a perfect day.

I look forward to meeting you guys again.You were all mega!

Bessy regs

Kenny

[chortler]

Here's my shot from the day, to say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement (It's going to make the rest of my favourite photos look dull)

Once again, a fab day, it was great meeting some of the forum members & a big thank you to Tiny & the models (Goliath, Malloc, Evelien & Jessica)

[Jayne_yorks]

Good morning guys....got in at 1am so was absolutely knackered lol
never try and do a 320 mile trip on 2 hours sleep!
Just wanted to say a massive thankyou to Tiny and Corran (sorry if i aint spelt that right) you made us feel so welcome esp Corran who didn't even have a clue who were staying at her house. You are both very wecome at ours anytime you are up this way and Corran i will stock the booze cupboard up! lol Haven't even started uploading pics yet just gonna have a cuppa and then i will, think i got some half decent shots. Was great to meet you all and thankyou for the company in the car Kenny, made the hours go a bit faster :)
Once again thankyou so much Matt for arranging it and looking after us :)
Carmen grrrrrrrrr lol

[simonpaul64]

Ok - so to illustrate a point we discussed yesterday - I shot around 80 frames yesterday. Out of that (discounting the editorial ones showing Tiny acting kinda gay etc) I have around 10 that I like alot and 4 or 5 that I really like. Just like Adrian says above, it makes you hate the stuff you've done before, so thanks a bunch Matt!

Here are a couple I like. Same theme obviously - just showing that Matt can show even an idiot like me to take a reasonable shot!

[simonpaul64]

Ok, just had a quick play with one of the set up shots from the D200. For those of you that came along today, note that I haven't gone bonkers with the pp apart from adding an extra ferret. Everything else is general adjustments and not manipulating the image. These types of shots realy don't require heavy pp.


Point taken on the not needing heavy pp. It's amazing to me how much atmosphere your technique created, so it turned a dull overcast day into something much more dramatic! I love this style - and I'm sure you'll see more from all of us yesterday trying to recreate it again.

I see a problem though Matt. Perhaps you're creating too many minimatts and now you'll have to go even more wierd. OMG what are you gonna do next????

[simonpaul64]

Here's my shot from the day, to say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement (It's going to make the rest of my favourite photos look dull)

Once again, a fab day, it was great meeting some of the forum members & a big thank you to Tiny & the models (Goliath, Malloc, Evelien & Jessica)

Adrian,

Love this shot - and I think you deserve the credit for getting the single model on the lawnmower with the brolly. I think this one would be better still with the punch kicked up on the model and mower but keeping the surrounds dark and moody. Use the lasso tool with a feather to create a new layer either from the background or the subject then play away to get what you want.

Good to meet you yesterday!

Simon

[Jayne_yorks]

Right firstly i forgot to say what a great tutor Matt is, i learnt soooo much yesterday and also realized i would like to do much more of this kind of shoot, as in the thought that goes into it before you even think about clicking the shutter button.....
Anyway this IMO is def the best i got yesterday and will def be going into my porfolio, i did get a good few shots that i was pleased with and i agree with Simon i shot much much less yesterday than i normally do, will post a few more when i have edited them.....

[Kenny]

wow..it looks sooo much more dramatic than it did on the LCD Jayne.You cant tell on one of those cam LCDs just how good a photo that was but golly gosh its a cracker of a shot.I just wish I could get mine out of the cam and into the pc to post process them but with cs4 not able to work on this lappy I cant do it.

Ill try to see what I can do whilst I am away.Reformatting the lappy might be better than saying hi to sheep LOL

Bessy regs

Kenny

[tinysmall]

There are some very good shots coming out here. Remember what I said though guys, the normal rules for portraiture and other stuff don't apply at all in this kind of shoot and there is nothing wrong with having a very dark shot as long as the point of focus is exposed well, so don't feel the need to lighten them because you'll lose all the mood. Simon and Jayne, two cracking shots there :ok:

[Kenny]

Hi guys

Ive managed to get photoshop to work-though only to resize the images cos anything else and it just crashes.Ive not managed to do any pp on these and am going to really throw this damned machine out the window if when I reformat it,it does it again grrr

anyway,I have managed to resize about five images.from what Ive seen I have about 12 usuable images and six Im almost happy with( if ever I could be happy with mine)

Ive put them on here as is just a resize so I dont know how they look.Ive made my mind up to build myself a proper graphics based pc as the lappy simply doesnt have the quality to do this kind of work on.

anyways,heres mine and appologies for lack of pp and quality.

thanks as ever for any comments I get on mine.I am always most grateful for them.

Bessy regs

Kenny

[Kenny]

....can I just add a bit to the thread and confess that now I have been to the Twickkers shoot it has now opened a pandoras box for me and its now making me question a direction I would go in portrait and studio flash work.The shoot yesterday opened my eyes to the possibilities that are there if only you free your mind from convenionality.Ive had this idea for a while for a goth style fantasy shot with a whip made of a laser and its been in my head for a while but now I have other ideas in my head from this shoot and it turned everything I thought about working with lights on its head.

Im now in a state of bemusement because the direction I thought I wanted to take has now changed.I just loved this style of photography and now think I might explore this further once I get to Univesity in September because then I will have access to the tools to do this justice.

thanks Matt for opening my eyes and giving me a new vista to aim for.It was a stunning day and I only wish I had got stunning photos to top it off but what I did come away with was a confidence and a set of knowledge and guidlines that I didnt have before.Forgive me for this last post but I just wanted to say so whilst it was in my head to do so.

Bessy regs

Kenny

[simonpaul64]

....can I just add a bit to the thread and confess that now I have been to the Twickkers shoot it has now opened a pandoras box for me and its now making me question a direction I would go in portrait and studio flash work.The shoot yesterday opened my eyes to the possibilities that are there if only you free your mind from convenionality.Ive had this idea for a while for a goth style fantasy shot with a whip made of a laser and its been in my head for a while but now I have other ideas in my head from this shoot and it turned everything I thought about working with lights on its head.

Im now in a state of bemusement because the direction I thought I wanted to take has now changed.I just loved this style of photography and now think I might explore this further once I get to Univesity in September because then I will have access to the tools to do this justice.

thanks Matt for opening my eyes and giving me a new vista to aim for.It was a stunning day and I only wish I had got stunning photos to top it off but what I did come away with was a confidence and a set of knowledge and guidlines that I didnt have before.Forgive me for this last post but I just wanted to say so whilst it was in my head to do so.

Bessy regs

Kenny

For peets sake Kenny - you DID come away with stunning shots. Number 3 and 4 above are brilliant. You need to take a leaf out of Tiny's book - his confidence shines through - and it makes everyone trust in him and he therefore is able to convince people to do wacky things to create brilliant work. You HAVE TO STOP being so "British". Believe in yourself and even if you aren't confident - Fake it until you can make it!

The other thing you need is look for the details and be prepared to throw out something that doesn't work. The first two are dramatic settings - but they were right from the beginning and they were test shots. The girls weren't ready and you can see they weren't engaged yet. Dump them both - they aren't your best. 3 and 4 make the day worthwhile and I'll bet you have a couple of others too.

Rock on Kenny!

[stink]

wow some great shots and looks like it was a fantastic day shame i missed it :( look forward to seeing some more shots

[tinysmall]

You HAVE TO STOP being so "British". Believe in yourself and even if you aren't confident - Fake it until you can make it!

The other thing you need is look for the details and be prepared to throw out something that doesn't work. The first two are dramatic settings - but they were right from the beginning and they were test shots. The girls weren't ready and you can see they weren't engaged yet. Dump them both - they aren't your best. 3 and 4 make the day worthwhile and I'll bet you have a couple of others too.

Rock on Kenny!

I couldn't have put it better myself. Remember that the first part of the day was just to set up the lighting and poses. All of those images should be thrown away before you even start as they are not the images that we planned for. One of the things that I hope people learned from this is that during this shoot, I spent probably about an hour and a half to set everything up and the images that I wanted were taken on the medium format camera. How long did that bit take? About a minute. Everything else was always going to be for the recycle bin so don't feel bad about throwing things away. From this part of the shoot you should have maybe two or three images and that's it. 3 and 4 are the ones you were after here Kenny and they worked.

I've just finished the pp video so once I've checked it and made sure it's a reasonable size, I'll post it on my blog and post the link here.

[tinysmall]

It all went horribly wrong. I'll redo the video and post it later :)

[~~Julie~~]

WOW!! Some fantastic images coming through this thread! I am gutted I missed it!!! It looks like you all had a really good day!!

Really looking forward to seeing the video Matt, and more shots of course.

:ok:

[Garry_Edwards]

I couldn't be there unfortunately but I'm very interested in this thread, partly because it's the sort of technique that interests me, partly because I'm impressed by some other shots that Tiny produced and partly because it involved the Lencarta Safari (which I understand did well).

Suppose that none of you had a digital camera.
Suppose that you were all using a medium or large format film camera, producing top quality work for a fashion mag - no room for error, drum scanning costs far too high to waste shots etc - how would you go about the shoot?
1. The concept
2. The resources (props, location, models, staff, transport, equipment)
4. Arrangements ( composition, camera position, poses etc)
5. Lighting
6. Testing (polaroids, as many as necessary)
7. The final shot.

Maybe 1 final shot from each setup, maybe two if there was a danger of a model blinking or whatever.

All the polaroids would go in the bin because they had served their purpose and were now just scrap.

An organised photographer works in exactly the same way using digital. The setup shots go into a different type of bin, that's all - so yes, although it's always good to experiment, it's always bad to keep anything except the very best shots.

[simonpaul64]

I couldn't be there unfortunately but I'm very interested in this thread, partly because it's the sort of technique that interests me, partly because I'm impressed by some other shots that Tiny produced and partly because it involved the Lencarta Safari (which I understand did well).

Suppose that none of you had a digital camera.
Suppose that you were all using a medium or large format film camera, producing top quality work for a fashion mag - no room for error, drum scanning costs far too high to waste shots etc - how would you go about the shoot?
1. The concept
2. The resources (props, location, models, staff, transport, equipment)
4. Arrangements ( composition, camera position, poses etc)
5. Lighting
6. Testing (polaroids, as many as necessary)
7. The final shot.

Maybe 1 final shot from each setup, maybe two if there was a danger of a model blinking or whatever.

All the polaroids would go in the bin because they had served their purpose and were now just scrap.

An organised photographer works in exactly the same way using digital. The setup shots go into a different type of bin, that's all - so yes, although it's always good to experiment, it's always bad to keep anything except the very best shots.


Good point Garry - digital has made us lazy in a sense, or perhaps looking for the lucky shot as opposed to creating your own luck. I can say without a doubt that what Tiny does is create his own luck. Yesterday he created it for us too, but you're spot on correct - the lesson is to think and plan to get great results.

[Jayne_yorks]

Gary that is exactly as Tiny works apart from some test shots with the digital as well as the polaroid....he's very good you know lol
Anyway another from me....slowly getting thro some editing

[tinysmall]

Ok guys, here's the video. Download it whilst you're making a brew or something because it'll probably take ten minutes or so on a broadband connection (its about 350mb but superb quality and you should all watch it) as I have no idea how to compress video for the web. The other reason it's so big is because it's full screen at full screen size if that makes sense, so you can see in detail what's going on. Turn the sound up as well because it's a bit quiet.

http://www.matthewsmallphoto.co.uk/edit.avi

[AsylumVoid]

These pictures are so awesome! It totally sucks that I missed that, looks like you all had a blast!

[simonpaul64]

Ok guys, here's the video. Download it whilst you're making a brew or something because it'll probably take ten minutes or so on a broadband connection (its about 350mb but superb quality and you should all watch it) as I have no idea how to compress video for the web. The other reason it's so big is because it's full screen at full screen size if that makes sense, so you can see in detail what's going on. Turn the sound up as well because it's a bit quiet.

http://www.matthewsmallphoto.co.uk/edit.avi

If anyone gets sound but no video after downloading this, you will probably need the TSCC codec (Techsmith Corp Camtasia). You can find that on this page and scroll down to tscc.

http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.php

Great video Matt. I was so pleased with my result, and now you've gone and ruined it for me. Sheesh.

[Carmen]

I'll download that video later, thanks again Matt for arranging all this. I had a really great day.

I literally only got 2 shots of the girls "in pose" with the lights on the tractor as I thought I was going to get another go at posing the girls myself, unfortunately that was when the battery pack died! So I've already posted one of those, which I'm fairly happy with, though there are a few highlights (as Matt has already pointed out) which are a little on the edge shall we say - particularly reflections off Evelyn's belt and the front of the tractor I didn't lighten it up too much but I did use levels to adjust the histogram so I might be able to recover this a bit (after I've watched Matt's video).

Still it was a great day and has given me some good ideas of how I could possibly use my off camera flash gun(s) though of course I'll be more limited than if I was using the lencarta head!!

Matt - how did the shots you took using my 50mm prime come out? I'd be interested to see them.

[Jayne_yorks]

another from me.........off to watch the video now :)

[Carmen]

Ooh now Jayne that's really nice. Was that with the 85mm prime?

I want... I want... I want.... :hissyfit:

I was just about to change to my 50mm F1.8 prime for those shots under the trees, when Matt nicked it (I did say he could borrow it) and then it started raining :rain:and then ran out of time ah well.. I guess I should learn to be more pushy and just get in there, not hang about like I was doing, I didn't want to get in anyone's way. LOL!

[Jayne_yorks]

Lol i just waited till everyone was busy with the other girl n snuck in, can't even remember if that was using the flash or not lol, i can't decide if it's too dark or not now hmmmm and yes it was the sexy 85mm :)

[Jayne_yorks]

I am thinking of calling this.....'To the pub' lol

[simonpaul64]

I am thinking of calling this.....'To the pub' lol

Crackin shot there!

[Carmen]

ha ha, great one!

"To infinity and beyond!!"

To me Jayne it looks like you definitely found your mojo with the d90 and 85mm prime that day!!

I on the other hand am still struggling. Today I got my Sb800 and am really looking forward to playing with that and the SB600 off camera.. I had a play last night with my Sb600, light stand and umbrella.

[simonpaul64]

To anyone interested - this is how the scene looked on Saturday - mower, models, lighting (with additional tripods for cameras and a bunch of togs). Adrian is holding the Safari head (went over three times and lived) and just below him in the piccie is a flashgun on a stand giving a little fill light.

[chortler]

Having watched Tiny's video, here's another one I've edited using a few of the tips.

[tinysmall]

Is that one of the ones with just a flash gun? It looks pretty cool with the leaves behind the hat. All kind of complementary tones and textures. :ok:

[chortler]

Yes it is. Because of the results, I've ordered some radio triggers, so I can have a go on my own (Scarey!)

[tinysmall]

Lol. Which ones have you ordered?

[Duncky]

Well guys, as i expected , these look like the result of a terriffic weekends playing around. Wish i had been able to come along too.
Off to Crazy Monkeys seminar tonight - Have to see if he produces anything similar to you guys.
well done to all of you and especially Tiny. Running stuff like this is an example of just how good this forum is.