Whispering Waters
On July 19th, I drove up to Poughkeepsie, NY to attend the Whispers of Waterhouse photo event held by Everlore Events. This was an all-day event, which included a light lunch, vendors, arts, and crafts areas, and three different styled shooting locations. I was one of the roaming photographers for this event, which means you work with models who are not currently working with a featured photographer (who have schedules), and can wander between all three shooting locations at your convenience.
For this event I used:
- Canon R6
- 1 Speed light
- Trigger
- Umbrella
- Gels
- 24 - 105mm lens
Camera Settings:
This was an outside
shoot that had sets in heavy forested areas, out on a pond, and sunny meadows;
thus, I was adjusting the settings to the lighting conditions. I used ISO 100 and 400. My goal was to keep my aperture around f/4 to
achieve a nice background blur; however, depending on the conditions, I had to
stop down to f/9 and f/11 to manage the light and achieve the desired focal
distance in some locations. My shutter
speed ranged from 1/50s in the shadiest part to 1/500s in the sunniest of
locations. My most common shutter speeds
for the day were 1/250s and 1/160s. My
focal length ranged from 24mm to 91mm, with the most common being 24mm. During this shoot, I combined natural and
artificial light by bringing a speedlight with an umbrella to act as fill. This was a good choice for some of the more
shaded areas and allowed me to manage the harshness of the shadows in more
sunny areas.
The Photos:
Before I delve into some
of the photos from the event, I'd like to briefly discuss the theme. The theme for the event was Whispers of
Waterhouse, which is based on pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood paintings such as “The
Death of Ophelia”, “Lady of Shallot,” and other John Williams’ paintings. So, there were lots of flowers, flowy
dresses, and a boat. Now let’s discuss
some of the photos.
My favorite image from
the shoot is of Amanda,
who I placed in the canoe covered in flowers. To get this image, I angled her to have the
natural light hit her face, then filled the shadows with a flash that was
perpendicular to her face. I then stood
over the model in the canoe to shoot down at her. Note the canoe was on blocks on dry land, so
I did not have to worry about falling into the water. Then, in post, I did the basic edits of white
balance, slight exposure adjustment, and color balance. In this case, I significantly reduced the
clarity to help add a dreamy quality to the image. I also added a vignette to the image using a
radial mask.
 |
| ISO 100, Apeture F4, Shutter, 1/125s, Focal Length 53mm |
One of the nice things I
liked about this event was that it had a male model, Zack, who was in pirate mode for the day. I capitalized on this and asked him to
channel his inner Flyn Rider and romance novel cover to turn on some
smolder. This image was taken in very
harsh light, with strong shadows so I stopped down to F11 and filled with
flash. In post, I just did basic edits
from adjusting the exposure and adjusting the shadows. I also added a circular gradient to the
models face to lighten the shadows on the model’s face. I finished the image with a vignette. Side note I think more male models should attend events like these, because males can have fantasy portraits too.
 |
| ISO 100, Apeture F11, Shutter, 1/80s, Focal Length 63mm |
Another favorite image
of mine was the one of Briana, with the spinning wheel. This image was shot
later in the day when the cloud cover diffused the sun in the field areas. To capture this image, I placed the flash
straight onto the spinning wheel, pointed at the model’s face. In post I did the basic edits and lowered the
exposure slightly and reduced the clarity to give the image a dreamy look. I added a linear gradient to the right side
of the image as the lace was very bright and added a circular mask to brighten
the model’s face. Then I finished the
image with a strong vignette.
 |
| ISO 100, Apeture F4, Shutter, 1/250s, Focal Length 50mm |
This final image is also
of Briana, in a different outfit, and is one of the few I took of the models
out on the pond. I didn’t take many
images of models out on the pond because the lighting was very harsh. The only reason this image worked is that a
spouse of one of the models was holding a large reflector, doing his best to
aim the light on the model. To get this
image, I stopped down to F9 from F4 and used a shutter speed of 1/400s. Then, in post, I slightly increased the
exposure and adjusted the contrast to bring out some of the reflections in the
water. I also slightly decreased the
clarity of the image, again going for that dreamy look. Finally, I added a strong vignette to the
image.
 |
| ISO 100, Apeture F9, Shutter, 1/400s, Focal Length 58mm |
Wrap Up:
I have been looking at attending
an Everlore event for a while now, but have been putting it off due to timing and
the overall location, since I’m in Virginia and all the events are in New York. I’m glad I went up to Poughkeepsie, NY for the
Whispers of Waterhouse Event, as it was a perfect theme and got me out of a rut.
It was nice to work with some new models
and in a different location. Plus, I
turned it into a mini vacation by taking some time to visit one of the
Vanderbilt mansions and some other historic spots in the area.
The event was well
organized from the call sheet, timing, and sets. I was impressed by the details that went into
the sets with furniture, lots of live and fake flowers, available props, and
dresses for the models to wear. I also appreciated
that water was provided throughout the shoot, along with a light lunch
consisting of a kitchen table-sized charcuterie board and some pasta salad. The only thing I didn’t like was how hot it
got in the afternoon, but that was not the host's fault; they can’t control the
weather. Thankfully, I brought a little
personal fan with me, which really helped me stay cool and power through the
afternoon.
I enjoyed myself and took lovely photos; thus, I plan to attend more Everlore
events in the future.
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