Kris Bentham Photography

Wild camping in the lake district -Blea Tarn Time-lapse

This weekend I went camping in the lake district, getting away form civilisation and distractions allows you to slow down and observe what is happening in front of you. While its a perfect from a photography point of view its important to be prepare for what you are getting in too.

The plan

We know the weather wasn't going to be idea although not bad enough to call it off (after all 'bad' weather can give you more character to your images) so we decided to have a relatively short route.

Parking by Thirlmere and walking roughly 2 hours to Blea tarn, this took a bit longer due to the bridal way being resembling a stream, making the rocks slippy an the grass boggy.

The gear

Just like a photography shoot, its important to have the right camping gear

When selecting clothing I like to take layers, a base such as a t-shirt and hoody to keep you warm thought the day then a downs jacket for the night this way you can add and remove layers token comfortable. I have a waterproof jacket for when its wet, I would recommend one with a breathable membrane such as event or gore tex this allow you jacket to let moisture out such as sweat while keeping water out.

A good pair of socks and walking boots help stop blisters and wet feet, agin getting gore tex options helps keep you comfortable.

Accommodation for the night was originally going to be just a sleeping bag and bivi (waterproof cover for the sleeping bag) but due to the harsh weather i took the water proof shell as a bit of extra shelter, i chose to leave the inner fly net and ground sheets to save weight. a sleeping mate is also very important as i found on a previous trip where i didn't have one, with out the insulation of the mat your heat is absorbed to the ground leaving you very cold.

My camera gear now lives in the Dakine sequence bag, this is ideal for me as it has a inner camera block and outer rucksack. This keeps my gear very save when using them together or I can rip the camera block out and my gears nicely packed for the hike.

I would like to get a dry bag for the photo block just to give me piece of mind my gear isn't going to get wet.

For this trip I took all my gear as i know it was going to be a relatively short hike, If i had to carry cooking equipment or extra layer i would consider reducing the equipment.

The outcome

the gear worked out perfect for the trip, which was cold and wet but by taking the shelter it allowed me to keep dry and air things out when thy got wet it also gave me somewhere to keep my gear which would have been very wet had I just used the bivi. The location we planned to camp in was very boggy but we managed to find a dry-ish patch in a wind brake, the only downside being it was on a slope so i found my self slowly sliding out of the tent.

The sky was very dramatic with a thick cloud being swept along with the song winds, this was good for us it gave us a interesting sunset with deep red accents on the clouds and the skies kept opening to show us the stars above.

The photography sunset

Just after setting up camp and getting a brew on I noticed the sunset was catching on the clouds giving a deep red tone to some of the clouds.

I wanted to make this in to a time-lapse the changing of the colour would give it an unique interest, it took me a few minuet to set up the camera. by the time I had set up the camera the colour had gone. The image below was taken 2minuets 40seconds after the first yet all the colours have gone

When I got the image in to Lightroom i batch processed the image, altering the tones and colours, i also removed a fair amount of marks from from dirt on the lens as I hadn't had chance to clean the image. This syncing of the spot removal did not work as it just copies the position of the brush and its reference point on to each image rather than copying the brush and intelligently moving the reference point. This became apparent when I rendered the files on to a time-lapse.

To rectify this I have created a action with in Photoshop to apply to all the JPGs. First i created a selection of all the dusk points and saved it. then i turned on the action recorder and copied the background layer then loaded the selection and applied it to a layer mask. next I applied a dust and noise filter to the copied layer. This smoothed all of the dust particles of and is specfic to each frame as its created form that frame.

I then used photoshops image processor to apply the process to all 562 images, This is a great time saver but you need to design you action to work independently, its also still quite time consuming, it seamed to go fast when i put the monitor to sleep presumably it didn't have to display the processes it was going thought so speed the process up.

once all the files where complete I then loaded them as a sequence in photoshop, this allows you to create the time-lapse with out having to load all the images into the program stopping you using any unnecessary processing power.

The photography night

After the sunset we concentrated on keeping warm and dry having a brew and cooking the sausage tea, I warmed up when we started to think about photography and not how miserable the weather was. the first think i notices was how the clouds where catching the light pollution of Keswick form behind the i wanted to try this as a time-lapse but due to me only taking a 32GB file and half filling it creating the first time-lapse I decided to use the D610s Time-lapse function. This compiles all the images as it goes creating a mov file thats actually smaller that one NEF file.

By shooting in the Timelapse mode I don't have the same quality as with the other method I have used. Because of the tungsten glow hitting the clouds the colour of the stars and space is slightly green, this is something i could alter if i had all the frames.

The final shot we took form the night was of of the tents, I had noticed the stars peaking out behind the clouds so decided to try the classic illuminated tent shot. we places our toruches in the tents and tried to get a even light form both the tents. then we tool the images exposing for the stars.

The image has come out well, The wind was quite fast and i think this has resulted in a softer image, the tents where moving. The stars would have been brighter but the clouds where moving with the wind, we where lucky to get such big gap.

Over all I'm quite happy with the images i got on this trip considering the harsh weather we went in. I will consider going out in such weather again as i think it gives a unique look to the images you just need to be ready for the unexpected.

Lens flair removal

I was asked to remove the lens flair from this image as they wanted to print it fairly large.

so theres a few things to things bout when removing the flair;

removing the green tone
applying to texture where the flair has 'blown out'
adding realistic tones
blending the contrast as the flair would give very soft detail.

I started with the image in photoshop, duplicating the layer as a way to preserve the original file i then used a hue and adjustment layer to remove the green tones.

This has left me an area with no colour. To add colour I added a selective colour adjustment layer, this allowed me to add colour to the nuetral tones while keeping the structural detail in the whites and blacks.

The selective colour adjustment layer works with he CMYK colour principle so form the research I did for the 3 layer effect understanding the relationship between these allowed me to quickly select the right tone to blend in with the trail. To help the tones blend i applied it to areas not effected by the flair as well as the colourless patch.

Now i need to deal with the loss of detail due to the blowing out caused by the flair i used the clone stamp to add some more grass around the bike tire, I then used a combination of burning, dodging, curves and contrast adjustment layers to blend the tones below the bikes bottom bracket

I then saved the file and brought it in to Lightroom where I cleaned the images up removing some more of the green tone on the bike and adding clarity to the rock as well as some cloning.

The process worked well, has the flair covered the bike it would have been an near impossible task to remove due to the detail be lost not being easily duplicated.

sRGB

Adobe RGB

Colour Profiles

Im very pleased with the outcome of the image it has a realistic look and tone.
I originally exported the file as Adobe RGB as that the colour profile I use, this resulted is the colours looking a little washed out, tones are slightly off and the shadows are brighter than the original. By keeping the colour profile sRGB as the image was shot I have kept the deep shadows and vibrant orange of the sunset

original image by Andrew Meth-cohn

Kendal Warriors Vs Newcastle University

My friends play in the local basketball team the Kendal Warriors, While I was up in the Lakes they had a match vs Newcastle Univercity which i decided to go shoot.

The fixture was at the new sprots hall at Dallam school, this gave me fairly good lighting for the game, this allowed me to shoot at a lower ISO than I have use in other sports halls keeping the image quality. The shutter speed was kept quick due to the action, this required me to use a wide aperture.

For the shoot I use my D610 with the 70-200 ƒ2.8 lens shooting at ISO 2500, 1/340 -1/500 and ƒ2.8. I set the white balance to auto due to the mixture of natural and artificial light.

I used 3d focus tracking, this is a continuous focus tracking system that actually predicts the motion of the subject to stop loosing focus in the split seconds the camera opens the shutter. This is the first time I have used focus system and it worked great giving me constant sharp images.

Workflow

As a photographer time is money, developing systems to cut down your amount of work is vital to become a profitable photographer and freeing up time.

over the past few years I have developed a work methods to make myself more productive, although these is a big improvement over how i worked when i first started there are areas i could improve and develop.

Heres my current workflow:

1. Lease with client to create a plan, preparation before the shoot can save time in the post. discuss what they want and research any techniques or circumstances your not familiar with. proper set up of the shoot can result in hours saved in post or the possibility of a reshoot

2. During the shoot I will evaluate the images as I go, I will delete images in camera this frees up disc space as well as time when filtering the images later. I use the dual card slot on the d610 shooting on to 2 SD cards give me pice of mind that i have a backup copy of the images should one of the SD cards fail.

3. After the shoot I will upload the images in to Lightroom, changes the files form nikons raw format to DNG to allow me to open the files with more programs. during this process I always rename the images giving them a name more relevant to the job/image.

4. I then filter the images using the Lightroom pick feature this allows me to quickly evaluate which images I want to use.

5. once the images are selected I move to the develop module and apply edits using the adjustment sliders, presents and sync buttons. I try to keep apple the same editing techniques to all the images making them look like they belong together. any complex editing i take to photoshop and then bring the edited file back in to Lightroom to keep them together.

6. Once I am happy with the edit s i look thought them before I export them, changing them to jpg.

Areas that I could improve on my work flow would be:

Working on my camera techniques would allow me to get more sharp well composed images resulting in less images to filter. I have been working on my focusing and playing with the different settings as well as using the cameras beep to know when its in focus.

File structure by using Lightroom I have become lazy letting it structure my files, recently i have started renaming the files and changing there location but this could have more structure making me more organised.

Flash guns on location

During our recent trip to Brighton Biennial we took the opportunity to demonstrate the use of flash guns on location.

I wanted to use the flash to separate the background and subject so I had a 1.2 ND filter to allow me to open the aperture while keeping the shutter speed inline with the sync for the flash gun giving a very large bokeh but sharp subject. I also shot with my lens fully extend to 70mm to use the compression of the lens to add to this effect. this did mean i needed more power from my flash gun as i was further away.

ISO 100 70mm ƒ5 1/100s flash fired

ISO 100 70mm ƒ5 1/100s flash did not fire

I used a ITTL cable with my flash to have more control over the light and give more depth to the lighting, I tried to give it a butterfly feel in this image but due to me begin quite far way it was quite a soft light by the time it reached the subject. the flash gun has been used as a fill light in this instance removing the shadow from the left of the image while keeping the natural highlights on the left.

The same effect could be achieve with a reflector and assistant, as this was a very cloudy day there was a very soft light so the fill light isn't as important as it would be on a sunny harshly lit day.

I wanted to be more creative with the flash gun to really show its potential so decided to use it off flash. there are various methods and accessories to this but used Nikons commander mode which allows you to alter the settings of the flash remotely with in the camera. this is very handy as you don't need to more about and can add subtle adjustments.

to find the Commander mode you need to go Bracketing/Flash > Flash control for built-in flash > Commander mode. For here you have control over the the built in flash and 2 slave units. You can set the flashes to TTL or manual, there are 3 separate channels meaning that you can use the feature in one channel while other photographers work in another with out interference.

on the flash gun set the flash to Slave mode and and set the group and channel.

on location I placed the flash gun on a tripod left to the camera, I tried to keep the look realistic looking so had it positioned it hight. off camera flash gives the image more depth and more interest, it also allows you to shoot at lower flash powers requiring less power and recharge time. all images shot at ISO 160 70mm ƒ5 1/100s

The backgrounds on the images could been brighter by using a longer shutter speed, with the use of the flash you can use a longer shutter speed as the flash will freeze the motion.

Off camera flash is something I want to play with more to get to know how and when to use it. it can seam scary at first but it is very systematic and once you get a feel for your gear it becomes second nature

The colour with in.

Its possible to create colour images form black and white film by using RGB filters and creating 3 images, this gives you 3 tonally different images and this is the key to adding the colour.

In Photoshop add a new layer and fill it will;

Red - cyan

Green - magenta

Blue -yellow

Then change the blending mode to screen.

Merge each image and its colour layer the stack all the merged layers. Change the blending modes of the top 2 layers to multiply.

I never acomidated for the reduced exposure due to the filters so my image came out dull, with a exposure lay I managed to boost the colours to look realistic.

To understand how this works you need know the relationship between RGB and CKYM.

RGB comes from projected light by mixing the 3 colours you can produce white

CKYM comes from print by combining Cyan,Yellow and magenta you produce black

They are Also contrasting colours so the red filter only records the red shades on to the negative, when converted to positive the colour is also inverted giving Cyan.

hollywood promotional portraiture

Hollywood promotional portraits where used to created interest in a actor or actress during the golden age of Hollywood. The characteristics of these portraits had hard blow out shadows and highlights to create a interesting dramatic contrast. This was contrasted with soft focus drawing your attention to facial features.

Posing the model interesting angles where used to try and differentiate and make their portrait standout.

This image of Lauren Bacall is a prime example of this lighting style. It stood out for me due the use of a shallow depth of fields and the contrasting lines with in the robe jawline and shadow cast on the background.

To recreate this image I will start by setting up a red head to the left of the model high up to get he butterfly lighting effect as well as the highlights with in the hair. This has been stopped up to blow out the skin

A second light can be used to create the detail on the background but this may have ]to be created separately and applied in post due to the over head position of the light.

I started the shoot by setting up the camera and model, this allowed me to position the lighting knowing the framing would be correct. the key light was set up to left of the camera. as these are constant light i could see its effects as i set up the light.

as we didn't have a boom to position the rear light above head i could not create the same background positioning it to the side created a similar detail but i could not achieve the blown out white intensity that was present in the original.

once I have my image I started by applying a crop of 8x10 to replicate that of the large format. in Photoshop.

I then in the black and white panel altered the tones of the image to resemble that of the original, there is a lot of contrast yet little detail held with in the flesh tones suggesting the image is slightly over exposed. As I over exposed this while shooting I altered used the tone sliders to adjust the feel of the skin, starting by upping the whites to give a nice glow for the skin tones. I used the clarity to smooth out the skin removing contrast in the mid-tones and then added contrast to put depth back in to the image occurring for reducing the clarity.

To make Karens hair stand out similar to the Lauren Bacall's I have used the brush adjustment and reduced the shadows, this is a subtle adjustment to compensate of the darker hair type.

I next moved the image into Photoshop, I did this in colour as Photoshop has gives you more control over how your b and w images will come out.

In photoshop i started by applying a gradient map this gave me a much stronger contrast between the black and white tones with in the image, to replicate the soft feel of the original image i used a Gaussian blur applied to a copy of the original image and then used a faint brush on a black layer mask to reveal the smoother tones.

Now when I compared this image next to the original it didn't quite work for me; The key lighting was right with the shadows casting at a similar angle. There could be more fill light on the hair but I feel this is simply darker due to Karan having black hair a and the original has deep shadows in this area. The skin tone has more of a grey tone to it this could be because of my use of over exposing or simply Bacall has a different tone of skin.

The thing that wasn't working for me was the depth of field, I shot the original image ƒ/1.8 but the use of a prime lens has left me with a relevantly sharp image. on close inspection the original looks to have the blur applied by other means;

This area suggests that an alternative process has been used to achieve the shallow DOF even if the hair had been protruding form the face on a different plane in a quiff style the scalp is also blurred while the back of the head is sharp.

To rectify this I merged copied the background and skin smoothing layer to create a duplicate I could apply a field blur too, i chose to used this method as it would allow me to alter the intercity of the blur while having th different levels of blu merge together seamlessly. where i felt the blur was too much i used the layer mask and brush to remove it.

As an attempt to rectify the skin toning I changed the gradient map form black to white to black to grey this in tern gave me the grey tones while leaving the total image dull. so to rectify this i added a exposure layer which brought up the brightness again and leaving more greys in the mid tones.

This gave me the idea to use the same technique on the background to boost the whites. i created another gradient map and paired it with a exposure adjustment layer then masked out the facial area.

This project was fun, having to reverse engineer a shoot shows a knowledge of how things are achieve, its something I hope to do again to put myself. while i happy with my key lighting and the background was a case of not having the correct lighting stands and limitations of the project had we been able to use speed lights this could have easily been achieved. I need to work on my direction and detail, while Karen was a good model i could have payed more attention to the little details such as how tight the robe was and brought the back shoulder round to match the original.

Wild camping in the lake district -Blea Tarn Time-lapse

Lens flair removal

Kendal Warriors Vs Newcastle University

Workflow

Flash guns on location

The colour with in.

hollywood promotional portraiture

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