Hi and thanks for stopping by. My blog is an assortment of information relating to my photography and various commercial, advertising and glamour shoots that I do. I will be sharing information relating to my shoots including info about gear, lighting set ups, post processing and some BTS shots. I will also look into other equipment such as computer hardware, back up systems, software and processing techniques that all contribute to achieving the final images you see at Chris Smith Photography. Feel free to make comments and contact me if you have any questions.
2 Models Needed For 2 Magazine Shoots
Friday, July 15, 2011
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I am looking for 2 models for 2 different shoots. Both of these shoots will be published in different magazines. These shoots are not for submission they will be published. Both magazines are sporting magazines. Magazines will be on sale later this year.
Shoot 1 is for an established leading magazine focusing on the NRL. Shoot 2 is a new start up magazine based around motor sports, both of which are and will be distributed nationally.
We are looking for 2 models, preferably blond haired and of reasonable height around 5' 8". We would like 1 model who has a very glamourish, sexy type appearance and 1 model who has a more natural girl next door kind of sexiness. As these shoots will be published nationally we are looking for models who have experience and who know how to pull the right pose. For the right models there is the potential for ongoing work.
Hair, make up and styling will all be provided. Shoot date will be advised and will be confirmed with the chosen models. They are a little flexible however we would like 1 to be late next week preferably Thursday, and the other the following week. Both shoots will be in Sydney.
Preference will be given to models who are looking for national exposure and prepared to do TFP however we will consider paid models. If you are interested in this shoot please contact me through my contact page asap and indicate if you are TFP or Paid only. Remember that both these shoots will be published nationally in Australia.
Kate McCracken Goes Scuba Diving
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Hey there, and thanks for checking out my blog. Well my latest shoot was an absolute cracker. I had the great pleasure of shooting with a professional and very experienced model, and some may say celebrity, Mrs Kate McCracken.
Kate is mostly known from her 4 years as a presenter on Aerobics Oz Style, however Kate has also featured in numerous magazines and TV commercials. After 10 years experience and being represented by Bliss Models, Kate truly is the benchmark of a professional model.
So our shoot found us at Turimetta Beach at 6am carting a ton of gear about 200 meters down the beach. This is where an enthusiastic assistant really becomes valuable. To give you an idea we had a full set of scuba diving equipment including a steel tank, Elinchrom lighting gear, camera equipment, lighting stands, sand bags and so on. My assistant was John Amytage who I happened to meet on a previous shoot at Turimetta Beach. John is an amateur photographer with a keen interest all things photography. You can check out some of his work on his Flickr site. Anyway John was fantastic and didn’t have a single complaint about the amount of gear that needed to be carried, or holding the Elinchrom Battery pack or the fact that the shoot finished late.
Anyway with a great model and a great assistant, we were definitely in for a great shoot! The theme was to be based around scuba diving/skin diving with a bit of a Lara Croft feel to it. We also wanted to catch a few images of Kate in her Jeans, playing in the waves. You know those ads you see with the guy/girl/couple rolling in the surf in their jeans that makes you think, who goes to the beach in their jeans and rolls in the surf? Well that was what we were looking to achieve.
From a gear perspective, I used my Canon 5D MK II and 70 – 200 F2.8 IS USM L lens. Great lens and my preferred choice when shooting people. Lighting was Elinchrom Ranger AS Speed pack with an A head through a Rotalux 100cm deep throat Octabox. Softbox was generally placed about 45 degrees to the model.
We were hoping for a nice sunrise for the background however we really didn’t get much as it was quite overcast. We had a small amount of colour in the sky for a few minutes but it was short lived.
After about 200 shots we rapped the shoot and began the painful task of carting the gear back up the headland to the cars. Both the Kate and John helped carry gear to the car which was a massive help and beyond the call of duty.
Following is a BTS shot of my set up and a few images from the shoot.
Canon EOS 1 Wall Winner
Monday, February 21, 2011
This post is actually related to an event from early last year however I felt that it was important for me to include it in my new website.
Every month Canon runs a competition for intermediate and professional photographers called, "EOS 1 Wall". Basically the way it works is, there is a professional photographer assigned to each month of the year who takes their turn in choosing a theme for that month. Photographers can then go out and capture an image to suit the theme and submit their entry for judging at the end of the month.
So after a trip to Mungo National Park early in 2010, I decided to submit one of my images taken at the "Walls of China", in Mungo National Park. The "Walls of China" are a range of eroded sand dunes, which create a moonlight landscape due to the various formations of the dunes. My image titled "Dancing Silhouette", consisted of one of these eroded sand formations, which had a tree that appeared to be the figure of someone dancing on top of it. To top it off I had taken the image under a star lite sky. To my delight and utter surprise, I received notification that I had been chosen as the winning entry of the "EOS 1 Wall" competition for the month of May 2010 for my entry "Dancing Silhouette".
The subject for May was the "Twilight Zone" and my image titled "Dancing Silhouette", taken at Mungo National Park received the judge’s choice as the winning image. There is also a peoples choice award, which was won by another entrant. This was the first competition I had entered and first time I had ever been recognised professionally for my photography. The prize was a large framed print of my image as well as being published in Camera Magazine however I guess the real prize for me was the satisfaction I felt from winning the competition.
New Website Is Now Live!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Well the day has come to finally hit the go button and launch my new website! Its been a long road to get here however I believe and hope you agree, that the site reflects a lot of hard work and endless hours that have gone into creating the site. Its almost 7 months since the initial meeting to discuss my ideas and needs for my website. To give you a bit of a run down as to where the time went and to maybe help you in your planning if you are thinking of having a website built read on...
My first meeting with meeting with my chosen design/developer, Fab Creative Solutions was to discuss the brief and what i would like to achieve with my site. At this point it is vital that you have a detailed brief of what you would like included in your site including functionality, look and feel, performance, compatibility and so on. The more detailed the better. My designer, Fabi from Fab Creative Solutions then had to go away and come back with a concept design. I guess the tricky bit here is coming up with a design that achieves the desired functionality, is practical and provides a pleasant user experience while also being a design that is technically achievable with in the budget.
Once the design, layout and functionality have been approved its off to the developers to make it happen. Once the developers have developed the first version of the site they load it to a testing server so you can begin the huge task of testing. There are so many things to test like uploading of images into galleries, links between pages, email enquiry forms and private galleries, blogs, social media integration and so the list goes on. Each time a change is made you also create a new item to test.
Another big thing to consider is the copy that is going into the site, this needs to be written in a professional manner which is going to promote and sell your services. Another big consideration is which images you want to include in the website. Important to remember that only your best images should go online as they say "you are only as good as your worst image"! Each image needs to be prepared, processed to look its best then resized for optimal reproduction on the web. This can mean editing 100's of images which takes time.
Finally before going live you need to consider your ISP and your hosting package. Does it have enough storage space, enough bandwidth and traffic, how many email accounts can you have, as well as whether or not it offers support for any databases you may run, SSL, and of course technical support.
So I hope that has given you sort of idea as to the amount of work that goes into a new website. I am very exciting to finally have my site up and running and would love to hear back from you if you have any thoughts about it.
