Neil Danton

When it’s a baby Tawny Owl called Fudge:

Fudge is the latest addition to the Birds of Prey Educational Centre at Trabolgan Holiday Village in Cork.

Fudge joins other birds of prey at an educational centre which was opened in order to raise awareness of indigenous species and the environmental issues involved in their protection and conservation.

Definitely has the cuteness factor doesn’t it?

Unless perhaps you are a mouse…

TTFN

No, not Richard Wagner the composer. He died in 1883.

This Wagner is the one from X Factor who was in Cork recently:

Having arranged that I was going to shoot him the minute he arrived from the airport and decided where I was going to place him, he arrived. Never mind that I hadn’t tested my light and had just figured that a 135mm was too long and I’d change to an 85mm. I knew I’d only have a few minutes with him, no time to change a lens. The light, well when you shoot in manual, sometimes it takes a few tries to get it just right. Taking a punt on the light to subject distance and the time of day, I set the Quadra to less than a 1/4 power. I have the Quadra set to display in watt-seconds as I’m more comfortable with those numbers, so the range is 0-400. Well not 0, the lowest power is 25 I think(?!?). I went for 87.

Perfect first time. I’m either very good or very lucky, and they say it’s better to be lucky than good.

TTFN

p.s. Here’s a little choon for you from the other Wagner, the Richard one. It’s The Ride of the Valkyries, probably best known for its use in the film Apocalypse Now:

Thought I’d post something different today, and shock horror, there are no people in today’s images. Instead, laydees n gennulmen, I bring you CAKES!:

Black Forest and Madarin gateaux to be precise.

Not just big cakes though, you could also have something more bite-size. Chocolate or fruit?:

Maybe a slice of Apple & Cinnamon?:

Or a piece of Madeira perhaps?:

All these cakes are handmade and the fresh cream ones are unbelievable. Have a slice of one of these Swiss Rolls?:

All these images were produced for a bakery who make them all in-house, by hand, for wholesale and retail customers. One of the nice advantages of shooting commercial photography in Cork is that sometimes you get to shoot something you can eat!

Fresh Cream Slice anyone?:

My tastes would be more towards savoury things in all honestly and so I’m not a huge fan of sweet things, at least regarding food

I saved my favourite until last though, as I could definitely go for one of these at any time!

Fresh Cream Eclairs, wonderful!

TTFN

..Ladies. Or Gentlemen I suppose. *Not wishing to appear judgemental*

Here’s something that’s a bit different, and I only use it to point out a couple of things (well three actually having thought about it).

This was an editorial shoot for a beauty/female supplement and the focus was on the make-up:

Point 1: Use a custom white-balance. Don’t want the different skin tones as the make-up is applied to affect the white-balance and the camera try to compensate.

Point 2: Use a 2-light set-up. In this case I used one of the classics for ladies, the over-under. Your subject will love you for it. If the focus was on the hair, I would have added a 3rd as a hair-light to err, highlight the hair.

Point 3: I’ve only thrown this composite together very quickly, so the images don’t line-up 100% but that’s the 3rd point to note. Use a fixed focal length lens instead of a zoom. You are more likely to stand in the same place then and get the same aspect ratio of the subject. You need to either use a tripod to maintain the camera position (I don’t like using a tripod) or put some kind of mark on the floor to maintain the same position for each shot.

I find it easiest to take a hammer with me, and use a couple of 6 inch nails to secure my feet to the floor. Maintaining the same position is pretty easy after that.

TTFN

It’s yet another in the “not another executive with folded-arms series”.

I was on my way back from a lovely magazine shoot recently, complete with home-grown garden goodies for my belly – more on that story after publication – when my fave “Sunday” called and asked me to shoot an executive for the business pages.

An image had been supplied, and this is where the post title comes into play, but it wasn’t suitable. There was nothing wrong with it per se. It was correctly exposed, in focus, and not an arms-folded shot! Everything you’d expect really as it was taken by a pro (a pro I actually know, and whose work I like), but it hadn’t been taken for editorial use. I’m assuming it was a “filer”, an image kept on file for when a image needs to be sent out quickly to a publication, or it could have been for a corporate website or brochure. Not quite right for editorial use in a quality broadsheet though. The background was too dark background, and was a studio or cloth backdrop and so was too plain.

Suits me quite nicely then, thank you very much, I’ll do something more in keeping with the publication’s style:

Generally if it’s at all possible, I like to shoot and supply a left, a right, and a vertical (maybe even a left and a right of those too), each with a different background. A left and a right refer to which side of the image the subject is on, or which side the are facing. Some publications always like to have images of people facing “towards the fold”. On occasion it’s possible for them to flip the image if it doesn’t face the right way, but care needs to be taken then if there is any text or branding in the image. I’ve seen images that have writing in the background that is reversed, like looking in a mirror. Not very professional looking and something that should be picked up by a sub-editor, but sometimes they slip through!

TTFN

It’s always strange to be in a sports stadium on non-match days. I’m used to being in Páirc Uí Chaoimh when there are anything from 10-45,000 people in the place, so to be there with just my subject (and the grounds-man out on a tractor cutting the grass) was slightly surreal.

I was on assignment for one of the “Sundays” and my subject was former Cork hurler and All-Star Sean(ie) McGrath.

Of the 7 or 8 images I made, these were my favourites:

For the first one I wanted something… not melancholy but maybe, reflective. Days gone by and all that, looking out towards the pitch..

Started off with this as the lighting with just the small amount of natural light that comes into the tunnel, so that wouldn’t quite do:

Never mind, I have an app for that. Oh no that’s something else. I have a flash (strobe) for that. One flash with a snoot on top of the steps out to the left. Don’t want to light up the whole stadium, just enough for top-half of the body. A small change to to the working aperture and we were nearly there:

Et voila, the result:

Whady’all think? Load of crap? OK, moving on..

One-light again, 580EX flash with a 60cm softbox:

..and finally, one-light with a mini beauty dish – no need to light the sliotar (ball) too much, just him:

TTFN

…no not that type of playing the field. Get your mind out of the gutter.

This is more like playing ON the field. I was assigned the other day / week / can’t remember exactly, to get a few portraits of one of the Cork Gaelic footballers, or is it Cork Hurlers?

Actually it’s both, as he’s going to be playing both codes this season. That used to be not uncommon, but with the increase in training and match schedules, in the last few years nearly everyone has opted to declare for one or the other. Even the legend that is Seán Óg decided that Hurling would be it, rather than continue with both.

Bear in mind, for those not of the Irish persuasion, that Gaelic Games is an amateur sport. These guys aren’t professional athletes. They have to work full-time, in addition to all the training for their chosen sport.

So the time for the assignment was set, and the journo was due to interview him at around the same time, which (at this time of year) was fast approaching dusk. As usual, journo had a ready-made excuse as to why he needed to go first (sorry Michael, couldn’t resist ), so it meant I’d be shooting in near darkness outside by the time he’d finished the interrogation.

The location was a hotel, which, in common with most modern hotels, is a bit restrictive in terms of backgrounds. Still, no worries, it was going to be pitch fricking dark anyway for the outside shots. At least said hotel has a little bit of a garden that I could probably make use of.

Did a couple of shots inside, a half-length:

and then a close-up:

There were also a couple outside:

and the stand-out image for me:

All images were the old favourite – one-light. The half-length was using a 24mm lens, the close-up a 135mm and the 2 outside using what is increasingly becoming my favourite lens – a 50mm. All those years of going round and round in circles with different lenses, going from wide-angle to wider-angle, and I’m now back where I was donkeys years ago, shooting a full-frame camera with a 50mm lens. Technology, PAH.

So which one was published? None of those above. No, as usual they published the only one I didn’t really like which I haven’t shown. Typical.

Lady readers please stop drooling before you go to work.

TTFN