Photoshoot with Belle Folie

Belle Folie put up a casting call on Model Mayhem and I responded.

I put together a mood board over on Pinterest to show her some ideas of what I wanted. Check it out here  She said 'Anyone who has different ideas other than big hair and corsetry would be a plus'. So I wanted to go for more of a street/ urban type of shoot.

Belle was pretty street but really easy going at the same time and she had 24 years of modelling experience to bring to the table!

I really enjoyed my shoot with Belle and I hope to shoot with her again in the future as we teamed up to create some amazing shots.

Here are all the shots we came up with, check them out!

Don't forget to check out all of Belle's social media channels.  Facebook Instagram 

Dj Vicky Vanna

I've arranged a few shoots on Model Mayhem recently and here is another result of responding to a casting call. 

I had the pleasure of meeting an amazing young woman the other day by the name of Vicky. I went on to discover that Vicky is one of the most photogenic people I've ever met. 

Our shoot went well Vicky had a really clear vision of what she wanted to get out of the shoot and that clear vision made my job much easier. The only thing I would say is that maybe as a result of us two teaming up was that we became overly ambitious. Vicky brought a lot of outfits for the shoot and you'll notice all the wardrobe changes in these pictures. Unfortunately we weren't able to use all the items of clothing that she brought.

Vicky and I didn't have a lot in common but by an astonishing coincidence we shared the bilingual bond (as you know it's important a commonality with your subject to build a good rapport, this will translate to a positive mood that will lead to good pictures). When bilinguals who speak the same language meet up it automatically makes them best friends (we're both fluent in English and Spanish).

For this shoot Vicky wanted an edgy/sexy shoot and to be honest I knew I was up for it and here are the results!

Vicky's a Dj check her out her Facebook page here, her Soundcloud and her website.

 

 

Show Girl Shoot

I saw a Model Mayhem casting call asking for a photographer for a show girl themed shoot. I thought I might as well put my hand up for the job and low and behold I got a response. 

A lot of research went into this shoot as this is a theme that I've never shot before, but this is one of the things that I love about living in the information age everything  that we need to know is accessible at the tip of your fingers. The internet is a wonderful resource and it didn't take me too long to figure out what I needed to do.

Alice (the model) was a delight to work with and took well to my instructions. I knew what I wanted to get out of her and we where fortunate enough that her place offered us a few different backdrops only enhancing my creativity in terms of lighting and background.

I had a two light setup however when I got into the editing process I wound up liking the shots with the one off camera flash setup. 

I really enjoyed myself and I wouldn't mind doing more of this style of photography just to be able to test out some new ideas that came from my experience with this shoot.

Head Shots With Alex Cherman

Hey everyone Marcelo Silva here and I just wanted to share my thoughts on the art of the head shot.

I shot with a young talented Australian actor Alex Cherman. Alex has done some modelling before so working with him was a delight because of how professional he was. 

One of the things that I need from my models when doing a head shot is that the tip of their eye lids need to be touching the tip of their irises (this is a softer version of the squint).

One of the other things you need to do when taking head shots is that you want to be shooting at their eye level.

In head shots the most vital thing for casting agents look for is the eyes of the actor (the eyes are the window to the soul). It is vial that the photographer not only nails focus on the eyes but the photographer also needs to go into Lightroom or Photoshop to really make the eyes pop.

I had a lot of fun shooting with Alex check out his Instagram here and his IMDB.

 

Lady Deadpool (Cosplay photography)

Hey everyone! I had a shot with Alana Eve cosplay and I just wanted to reflect on the experience with you guys. 

Check out Alanas cosplay page here. 

The location of the shoot was in a rooftop car park in the Melbourne CBD. This location allowed for a series of different types of backgrounds from the skyline background to a brick wall to a fence and so on a so fourth. 

How did I find a participant for this shoot? I almost always attend every pop culture expo. One day I took a picture of someone cosplaying as Krieger's virtual girlfriend and at the next convention I took a picture of someone cosplaying as Lady Deadpool it turns out it was the same young lady, a few words where exchanged but nothing note worthy. I sent her a message close to the release of the Deadpool movie saying that I wanted to do this shoot and she was kind enough to agree. If this had failed I would have gone to a cosplay community and ask around for a Deadpool cosplayer there.

My pre visualisation for the shoot involved reading all the Deadpool comics ever made! (And by reading I mean looking at the pictures).

And here are the results.

 

 

And don't forget to check out the Vlog.


  


Kooyong Classic (Tennis photography)

I got up to some tennis photography at the Kooyong classic thanks to the Cannon Collective the other day where I got to shoot my favourite tennis player in the world Nick Kyrgios!

I was allowed to shoot for one set during the second game of the Kooyong Classic which featured the Australian Nick Kyrgios and the Belguim David Goffin.

I learnt a lot about tennis photography on this day it was a great pleasure to shoot on this day. The first thing I learnt was that you need to pack a lot of sunscreen, you need wear a cap and bring lots of water (it was 41 degrees and mostly sunny).

 

 

 

Iron Lady (Cosplay Photography)

As you all know I'm really into cosplay photography so today's blog post will feature miss Alice Shortcake (check out her Facebook page here).

Today I shot with miss Alice Shortcake (a Melbourne based cosplayer). I saw her Ironman cosplay a few months ago and I was quite impressed, I just knew I was going to be able to go nuts in photoshop.

This shoot required a lot of research on my end. I wound up reading every Ironman comic ever made (by read I mean looked at the pictures) for inspiration of what poses. When we got together I brought an Ipad that had all the pictures I saved as research so that I could get the right poses out of Alice.

I was please with how this shoot came out, Alice and I have a good rapport and she gave me all the time I needed to get every shot I wanted. We had a lot of fun. I was also please with the locations around Melbourne we chose (we shot around docklands and the CBD).

Marcelo Silva.

Canon 24mm STM

I recently purchased this lens because it's cheap and I don't own any Canon STM lenses and the technology behind them has always fascinated me so I got the 24mm F/2.8 STM. Another reason this lens intrigued me was it's form factor (it's a pancake lens). I also like to shoot with primes so this lens and I where meant to be.

Canon 24mm f/2.8 STM

The silent stepper motor was something that I just needed to test out the second I got my hands on it. I'm happy to report it works well. You absolutely cannot hear it focussing in live view mode (it's great for filming). One of the down sides of this lens is that it's not the best at focusing, don't get me wrong it's it's good but it doesn't compare to the better lenses.

One of the reasons I wanted this lens is because my now ex girlfriend had an olympus OMD-EM-10 with a 17mm prime lens at the time and I was dead jealous about how easy her gear was to carry! I'm happy to report that this pancake has filled that whole in my life. This lens has become one of those lenses that I always have in my bag because it's so convenient to carry.

One of the things I don't like about this lens is that it vignettes like crazy so this lens isn't going to work well for those who don't edit their pictures. Like most wide angles this lens also suffers from distortion but it won't be a big issue for me as I shoot raw and process all my pictures.

Push come to shove I love this lens I've taken lots good pictures with this lens it's a great every day lens to carry on you.


Colin Hunter Jr.

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I recently realised my dream of taking a portrait of an Indigenous elder.

This is Wurundjeri Elder Colin Hunter Jr. The descendant of the Wurundjeri (they are traditional land owner of the city of Melbourne). 

I saw Mr. Hunter from the other side of the room and I had to get his portrait, I knew the detail in his face would make for a strong portrait.

I'm quite pleased with this portrait I didn't have a lot of time to get it right and I had to deal with available light. He was very friendly and patient with me while I was getting this shot (the perfect subject).

Students of Swinburne

One day in class I was showing I was showing my friend Nadir some of my pictures from my flickr account and he liked my pictures from my 100 strangers project and he as a less experienced photographer expressed an interest in improving his own photography. One day we spoke about doing a Humans of New York styled page for our University to teach him more about how to use his camera, how to compose portraits and how to approach people.

Not long after we created the page and went for a walk about campus to find people to shoot. To be honest I wasn't prepared happened later that night (but more on that later). We found several willing participants to photograph and  the project was on it's way to be a success. Nadir was learning too, he even wound up getting a pictures that I was jealous of.

I was expecting that only our friends would have liked the page and that we'd have about 20 likes all up but on the first night we got over a hundred and by the end of the week it was over a thousand. It was quite amazing and we where receiving amazing feedback and when we where shooting on campus people where recognising the fact that we where the Students of Swinburne photographers it was an amazing time for the two of us to be on campus at the time. 

I think this page was the reason this page was so successful is because of the community of students felt like they where a part of something special. There's an online community of Swinburne students call Swinburne Stalker Space and an active member of the group wound up posting about our page and that's when it took off.

Unfortunately the stories coming from Australian uni students weren't as deep as some of the stories from the Humans of New york page but the stories we where getting but that's what made our project unique there was some humour involved.

I graduated shorty after and Nadir kept on shooting to keep the page alive and I'd drop by to join if I when I could but then the time came for him to graduate and then came along a young lady by the name of Lois messaged the page to express he interest of joining and now she runs the page.

Check out the page and give it a like just click here.


Fuji Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic

I'm really into instant film so I thought I give the Instax mini 90 a shot.

First off the bat I love the the design of the camera and it had lots of creative functions (ie. portrait, party, kid, landscape, darken, lighten, bulb, and the ability to turn off the flash is a god send).

So I'm please to advise that the Fuji film is a lot better than the impossible project film however I'm not a huge fan of the size it makes it difficult to scan into a decent size. 

The thing I liked about the film from the impossible project was the size and the shape of the film. This is the very think I dislike about the Fuji Instax film is how small it is and the dimensions of the film looks very much like the dimensions of mobile phone picture (which is not a good thing in my opinion). Having said all that it's worth getting a Fuji instax just because the film develops that much faster.

I love the camera itself it looks very sleek, it has two shutter buttons (I never use the second shutter button). The second shutter button also acts as a mirror to frame selfies at first I liked this but I found   

that I had to recompose so I never wind up using it because I can compose a selfies without recomposing by pointing the lens at myself. 

My big issue with this camera is the focus. I find it really random though setting the modes helps you get your subject in focus though it doesn't always work. I honestly find the focusing system on old polaroid cameras to be better than the current instax line.

In conclusion I like the Fuji Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic and I don't like it. The film develops quickly but it's too small and the focusing system isn't good enough.

Polaroid & the Impossible Project

I was inspired to go get a Poalroid 600 camera a while ago because I was a video where Chase Jarvis had one. 

This was the only picture that correctly developed out of my first pack of film from the impossible project.

This was the only picture that correctly developed out of my first pack of film from the impossible project.

I bought a polaroid 600 spirit CL and I purchased some Impossible project film to play around with it but the results I was getting where horrible! It was an expensive learning curve aswell, I found it had to come up with a technique to shield the film from daylight (impossible film is super sensitive to light). I  also didn't like the fact that I couldn't watch the picture develop that was the whole appeal when I was child I used to love watching the picture develop over 5-10 minutes instead I had to take the picture and put it away for 30-40 minutes. 

It took me a while to used to all the rules one must learn in order to get a decent shot out of the film but I got there eventually. 

I don't recommend using this in broad daylight or even an overcast day because your pictures will come out over some what blown however there are times where I like this effect. You want to shoot in shade or indoors with impossible film to get a good exposure.

I do however love their product. I love the colour tones in impossible film and I also like the wide selection borders you can get with impossible film (ie. animal skin, gold frame, silver frame, coloured boarders, black frame black and white film, and round frames).

 

I mainly use impossible project film for parties and pop culture expos and to be honest I love the results I'm getting so I do recommend their product.

I understand that they're working on improving their film to get it back to what polaroid film say way back when. But until then we're stuck with the film that we have to shield from light.

 


SupaNova (Melbourne)

I'm a huge fan of the 100 strangers project and the humans of new york project however I feel as if these projects have been over done. I do however reccomend doing the 100 stangers project as it improves you as a photographer in the way you interact with poeple whom you have just met (where it be a model a difficult firend or a complete random). I also like doing this because; well to be honest I just like talking to women. 

Given that SupaNova was on that weekend I thought it would be a great place to take pictures of people whom are dressed up as their favourite characters from their favourite animae, video games, movies,cartoons, and tv series.

Honestly speaking I was really lazy with the settings that day as I was getting a lot of different lighting conditions (in melbourne it will be sunny one moment and overcast the next) so I chose to shoot on shutter priority and regreted it because I was shooting at a low shutter speed because the over cast weather and that left my camera at a high apature when it got sunny. Next time I'm shooting full manual. 

I really enjoyed myself taking pictures at this event I got some really cool shots talked to lots of interesting poeple whom have similar interest (such as starwars). I also met CHEWBACCA! (Peter Mayhew).