Ron Shoots

We’re on location at an island resort off the coast of North Carolina. The really cool thing about this place is that no cars are permitted on island- you take everything on a passenger ferry across the Cape Fear River, then golf cart is the only mode of transportation once on-island. So yeah… no car for 5 days! (The only challenge is packing all the lighting gear, props and cameras… and 6 models plus 4 crew into 5 golf carts.)

We’re shooting casual lifestyle with an upscale twist. The challenge is keeping the shots looking natural, and essentially “un-stock-like” as much as possible. You would think that “candid” approach would be easy, but its the toughest type of shooting that I’ve done. Besides the composition part (with tons of copyspace) and the lighting, the models need to be set-up and then the scene set in motion so that the final shot looks like it was a spontaneous moment.

Above is a behind-the-scenes snapshot of one of the set-ups. Maybe not quite as candid as some of the others. Working with natural light and reflectors when possible to keep that “natural” feel, or if we use the strobe, we’re toning it down to the bare minimum of fill-light. (Note the blanket around the models as the temperature was an unseasonably 60 degrees chilly this morning…)

Here’s a couple of the selects from the above set. If you look at the composition, check out how we’ve set up the shot to be used as either a 2 page horizontal spread, or to be cropped into a single page vertical. In both cases, there’s plenty of copyspace and crop room for the art director to work with the image.

All of the images were shot on the Hasselblad H3D-39 with a 28mm lens so the files are large enough to crop tight and still have enough pixels for a very sharp file. While you won’t be friends with this camera on your first date, a real love of large files doesn’t take long to develop. (If you shoot with an H series digital, please feel free to email me- I’ll be glad to share any tips we’ve learned on using this camera… or post your experiences on the gear page.)