Blog | Christopher John Photography

February 21, 2015February 21, 2015

Snoots and filters

20150221_123029 copy I’ve been working with my studio lights, reflectors and gobos to get a moody high contrast mood in some monochrome portrait shots. There’s a bit of work involved and truth be told I haven’t been finding it that easy with my studio lights. One of the issue has been the ambient light in the rooms. Unless the room is very dark the effect of the hard light from the strobes is not as harsh as you may want. With little ambient light it’s a tad awkward to see what you’re doing so all in all it’s been a challenge for me. A way to resolve this problem is to use a high flash sync’ speed. By using a fast shutter speed the effect of the ambient light is considerably reduced. Directing the flash to the area of interest and reducing the amount of light spill by use of a snoot further helps create a more dramatic shot. The monochrome shot in this post illustrates this to some extent. Always tricky to shoot yourself, but this may give you and idea of what I mean. This photo was taken at midday today on a pretty bright and sunny day in a well lit office. By using a high flash sync’ speed I could use a shutter speed of 1/8000 second. This in conjunction with an ISO of 100 helps to significantly darken the background. (Aperture was at f2.8 to reduce depth of field). This is great news for me as I need much less equipment to carry with me. Furthermore, the time of day when the shots are taken are less critical as is the location.

123931 copy The colour image was taken a few minutes later. Same settings as for the monochrome image but this time a second speedlight fitted with an orange gel was placed behind me. These are very quick and dirty shots taken a little earlier today really as a proof of concept. With careful positioning of speedlights I suspect some very lovely images can be captured. Oh, and a better looking model wouldn’t go amiss!

February 21, 2015February 21, 2015

Nice reward.

I’d been admiring a hibiscus plant over the past few months. I suppose really because its flowers were so much more delicate that the larger more substantial blooms I have in my garden. A delicate pink with such a dainty flower. Anyway, after admiring the plant for some time I was given the opportunity to take a cutting. Just the one small cutting, placed in a jam jar with water and left on my studio windowsill to see if I could encourage some roots to grow. To my delight, grow they did and once they seemed large enough the new plant was transferred to a small plant pot and left to develop further on the windowsill.

20150221_125710 copy These past few days have been pretty busy for me and I must admit that it was only today that I noticed the plant. What a wonderful surprise to see my new plant in flower! I couldn’t resist and had to take a photo to show you. Click on the image and you’ll be able to see a larger version of the shot. Do you like?

The photograph was taken with a single flash with a snoot attached to camera left. The idea was to keep the background quite dark, but give sufficient light on the flower such that I could use a small aperture. I wanted to get as much of the stamen in focus as I could, so the lens was closed down quite a bit. For the technical amongst you, ISO100, 1/200s, f29, 105mm lens.

February 17, 2015

Just a bit lucky

I’d been intrigued by the cactus blooms at the Botanic Gardens. Gorgeous flowers, but so short lived; many of the blooms just lasting a single day. Setting up the camera to try some photos of this rather lovely flower I heard some buzzing to camera left. I hadn’t finished setting exposure or focus but when I saw where the bee was I thought I’d try a shot or two. The first image shows the bee coming in for a landing on what must be a feast of nectar and pollen. The second shot provides a view similar to that the bee must have as it approaches the flower. Look to the top left flower in the image and you’ll see yet another bee heading in for a feed. Quite a popular plant for the bees it would appear!

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February 15, 2015

Up close!

Don’t seem to have been on here in months. Thankfully I seem to have been kept busy with one thing and another. To be honest, of late it’s been more of one thing than another as I seem to have been taking more photos of properties for a number of South Auckland Realtors. Today, however, I experienced getting up close and personal with a praying mantis.

Always a challenge when you start to get close to things as focussing becomes quite awkward. Depth of field is virtually non-existent and this little creature wasn’t standing still. He was all over the place. Jumping from leaf to leaf and then doing his swaying and wobbling movements. Most of the images you see here were taken with a single diffused flash off camera pointed directly up to bounce the light off the white soffit just outside my front door. Looking through the camera viewfinder I could see the the praying mantis’s eyes looking straight back at me. Made me wonder if he could see himself in the lens and that was why he kept coming towards the camera! Below are a few more photos to amuse you. You’ll notice that as the size of the creature increases in the image so does the amount of the creature that is in focus. Quite a challenge to get focus. Obviously a lot more practice is required.

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January 10, 2014

A morning stroll to Maraetai

Yet another glorious day here in Auckland and a chance to take a walk along the coast at Martaetai. After parking the car at Te Puru Park we enjoyed a lovely walk along the headland then along the beach at Omana before arriving at Maraetai. The path has been upgraded and has a surface suitable for people of most walking abilities. Here’s a few photos of the scenes you can enjoy along the walk.

January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hard to believe, but 2014 is here already. I’d decided to get up early and head out towards Maraetai in the hope of capturing a pleasant first sunrise of the year. The alarm was set at a ridiculously early hour and a somewhat bleary eyed journey in the dark ensued as we headed to the beach. Part way there it suddenly dawned on me that we hadn’t checked the tide times and the tide could be well out! This wouldn’t be good and would spoil the shot across the sea look we were hoping for. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:05 am, but we thought we’d get there in plenty of time. Quite a few other folks arrived too and after a few Happy New Year pleasantries we all settled down to watch and capture the year’s first sunrise. Just in case you missed the sunrise I’ve attached a few images for you below.

All the very best for a safe and happy 2014.

November 25, 2013

White Ribbon Campaign in Manukau Square

District Commander, Superintendent John Tims

Today is not only the 25th November, it’s also a very important day for women in our community. It’s white Ribbon Day which is actually a day started by men to bring attention to the issue of violence against women in an effort to end it. Sadly too many women in New Zealand still experience violence in their lives, but it’s not just a problem for them, it’s a problem for their family and friends and a much broader societal problem. Click here to find out more about the White Ribbon Campaign in New Zealand and take the pledge.

Below are a few photos from today’s event in Manukau.

November 24, 2013November 25, 2013

White Ribbon Campaign in Manukau, New Zealand

The White Ribbon Campaign in New Zealand is a meld of the White Ribbon Day movement in Canada and the United Nations international day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is celebrated on 25 November each year. The campaign which now takes place during the whole month of November is driven by a campaign team and community groups in towns and cities throughout New Zealand. White Ribbon events and activities are increasingly supported by businesses, cultural groups, sporting teams, local government, and a wide range of community and government agencies.

Marica Picot, Len Brown and Shan Inglis at Manukau’s Hayman Park.

There were speeches from a number of people with sickening facts and figures being quoted. I hadn’t realised that one in three women experience violence from a partner in their lifetime, while on average, fourteen women are killed each year by a member of their own family.

White Ribbon is an international movement that condemns men’s violence towards women. Each November, White Ribbon runs a month-long campaign that culminates on 25 November, White Ribbon Day. This year, how about you take the pledge and help change attitudes and behaviour towards abuse of women.

So, the event was great. Great food, music and dance. Plenty of fun things for the kids too with bouncy castles, face painting and opportunities to draw and colour in flags. Let’s just hope the Mums and Dads got the message as well as had a great day out.

November 11, 2013

Lance Su’a and friends

What a very pleasant evening! Lance Su’a on guitar, Miguel Fuentes on drums and vocals by Maggie Gould. Quite a lovely sound and a real treat to be able to hear these talented musicians together.

I’d met Lance previously at the Pacific Music Awards and then at a couple of gigs in Manukau and Ponsonby. I’d never seen him with this trio previously and wasn’t sure what to expect. I have to say it worked really well and was very enjoyable indeed. Miguel Fuentes is perhaps better known as a member of KANTUTA member and as Music Educator within Auckland schools teaching percussion and drumming. Maggie may be better known for her work as a photographer. The three of them together though were very good indeed. Well worth going to see if you get the chance.

November 9, 2013November 9, 2013

Kittens again :-(

The three kittens and mother cat remain in and around the compost heap. Looking at the kittens I can see that it won’t be long before we’re going to have to take them off to the SPCA to try and find them good homes. As you can see from the first image in this post, mum is still feeding them.

She seems a lot happier to have me around the kittens which should make catching them a little easier. Problem is they’re growing up fast and are very quick to hide in small places!! One of the kittens – the one not represented in any of the photos – is VERY timid and will be a real challenge to capture. The one with a lot of white on its body is very curious and the first one to go to new places. Quite fascinating to see the difference in character of each kitten even at this early age.

Below are a few more images of the kittens. Maybe I’ll get some more photos to show before they head off to the SPCA.

Peeping from the high ground atop the bricks