Danica and Andrea from new Brisbane band The Holy Bible came around for a Sunday afternoon photo-shoot for some promo shots.

This was the first time that I had used the new lighting set-up in anger so was a pretty exciting time. I had planned on being really prepared and having everything ready for when they arrived but made the mistake of going to Westfield in Chermside to buy a new mobile, got hopelessly lost, and took over 20 minutes to find where I parked my car when I came out of the building… So it was then a bit of a panic when I finally got back.

I used a similar setting to some of my test shots for a high-key set-up, with a softbox on the background and a reflector on the other side of the room to bounce some of this light back onto the backdrop and a shoot-through umbrella on the mezzanine level balcony as the key light. We also did some other set-ups and did some shots with a black background, although I prefer the initial set of photos.

The lighting worked quite well, especially for blowing out the creases on the fabric backdrop/floor. There is a bit of blow out on Danica as she was stood closer to the light lighting the backdrop. Next time I try this set-up I will have to move it a bit further around and closer to the backdrop or maybe put a gobo between the light and the subject. Also in the initial panic and rush to get everything set up I forgot to change the ISO setting on my camera from the last gig I was at, so despite using my flash meter to meter for ISO 200 I ended up doing some of the first photos at ISO 800. Doh…

I probably should airbrush Danica’s legs… God knows what she did to get all those bumps and bruises… looks like she fell out of a tree and then rolled down a mountain… But that’s a job for another time…

All in all a good, fun afternoon and I was pretty happy with how it went for my first shoot. Hopefully the first of many.