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Cosplay in a Flower Field

On July 23rd, I did a cosplay session with Washu Cosplay at the Field of Flowers in Purcellville, VA.  This session was mainly for me to test out my new camera, a Canon R6 and new 24-105mm RF lens.  This is a big change for me as I jumped to full frame from a crop sensor camera and changed to mirrorless with this camera, so some settings and functions are a bit different.

For this session I used:

Photography Equipment

Canon R6

24-105 Lens

Transmitter/Trigger

3 Speed lights

1 Strip box

1 light stand

1 tri mount for speedlights

The set up

As this was an on-location shoot there was not a lot of set up involved. I used a strip box with three speedlights mounted inside.  I have a tri-mount that allows me to attach multiple speedlights to a single light stand.  I went with three speed lights to ensure I had enough light to fill shadows, because I was going to be using a soft box and fighting the sun at the same time.  I also went three speed lights based on the results of the shoot earlier in the week, where I was really pushing the flash power.  However, I’m thinking if I’m going to shoot in bright sun at this location again, I might just use my FJ400 strobe as it is battery powered and relatively portable. It is not as portable as speedlights but since this location is compact it might not be too bad.

Camera Settings

For this session I used a Canon R6 with a 24-105mm lens. I used ISO 100 due to the very sunny conditions.  I used the apertures of F4 and F8 evenly throughout the shoot. I’m comfortable shooting at lower F-stops with this camera due to the face and eye tracking focus technology.  Since the R6 will automatically lock focus on the model’s eye I’m less worried about missing focus at the wider apertures.  My shutter speed ranged from 1/100s to 1/2500s with most shots occurring at 1/500s. My last session at this location was earlier in the morning, so the sun was not as intense, while this session was later in the day with very bright sun almost directly overhead.  Note I was using highspeed sync on my flashes because my shutter was over 1/250s.  My focal length ranged from 24mm to 105mm with most of the images being taken at 24mm.  I’m not surprised most of my images are the 24mm, which is a lot wider then the 18mm I’m used to shooting when I was using my Canon 80D with an 18-200mm lens.  Taking into effect the crop factor, 18mm on a crop sensor is equivalent to about 29mm on a full frame.  As I get used to the new camera, I’m sure I’ll see the focal length shift upward.  I’ll talk more about my thoughts on the new camera after I talk about a few images.

The Photos

Since this was an on location outdoor shoot, I was dealing with changing lighting conditions as we moved in and out of direct sun and shade.  However, the basic edits remained the same for each photo, first I adjusted white balance and the tone curve. I also brought down the vibrancy of the images. I then adjusted the HSL/Color panel. Because this is a garden field there was a ton of green with yellow undertones, so I adjusted to remove yellow and pop the green.  I also paid attention to any color reflections, (i.e., green casts) on the model’s skin. One thing I did notice was my old camera seemed to really pick up reds, forcing me to adjust the reds and oranges a lot, but this new camera sensor doesn’t seem to have that issue.  In regards to sharpening and luminance I barely touched the sliders, this new lens is a lot sharper then my 18-200mm even at F4.  The last thing I did was pulled the images into Photoshop to remove any distracting elements.  In photoshoot I removed bugs, flower stems, people, houses, and minor blemishes. 

My favorite image from the shoot is one we did under the covered pergola next to the barn.  I love he overall color in this image as well as how the flash blend with the natural light lends to the overall mood of the image.  For this image the flash was to my left and about 30-45 degrees off from the barn wall. During post processing I did brighten the model’s face slightly and then use a yellow (highlights) and purple (shadow) split tone on the image to give it warmth. I also added strong vignette to the image.


ISO 100, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/250s, Focal length 24mm

I like this next image just because it is a nice portrait, also the bokeh or background blur. Usually, I don’t do images with this type of background blur as I’m usually shooting up at F8 or higher.  I found the eye tracking auto focus is giving me a bit more confidence to go to that wider f-stop. There is a fill flash in this image to my left, to reduce some of the shadows and provide just a bit of catch light to the model’s eyes.  I used standard editing on this image.

 

ISO 100, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/1250s, Focal length 50mm

I like this image just because of the contrast between the all-green background and the purple of the dress. It is very close to a split complementary color scheme or analogous-complementary color scheme.  Theo only thing that would make this image better is if the hydrangeas were in full bloom behind her.

 

ISO 100, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/640s, Focal length 43mm

Overall, this was a very nice shoot and I didn’t feel like I had to change my shooting style with the new camera.  I do know my shooting style will now evolve, due to some aids like the eye tracking focus.  Because I wear glasses/contacts I sometimes have trouble focusing, especially at lower F-stops, thus rely on the auto focus.  The eye tracking is like game changer for me.  I also feel this lens is sharper than my previous lens, which this new lens should be since it is an L-series lens (Canon’s top line lens).  The other feature I’m loving is the electronic view finder that is letting me see real time how adjusting aperture is going to affect the brightness of the image in conjunction with the exposure bar.  As I use the camera more, I’ll probably find other things that will make shooting easier for me.  Finally, I didn’t notice a big difference in my settings or shooting style, at least not yet, with switching to a full frame sensor. 

This session was a good first test of using the Canon R6 for me, I’ll be using it more in the coming weeks.  In the meantime you can see the results from this shoot here: Maki: White Day.

Credits:

Model: Washu Cosplay (@washu_cosplay)

Location: Field of Flowers, Loudoun County (@loudounfieldsofflowers)

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