Chris & Humayun - a morning at the beach

[Omaroo]

What a great morning we had today. Humayun drove up from Cantberra last night and we headed off to a beach near North Narrabeen at 4:30 this morning for a photography session that we often plan for.

We'll put up some beach shots as well after they're processed, but here are some of a girl we came across doing some modelling for her friend's scholastic project. She kindly agreed to us capturing some images of her. What a natural and beautiful model she was. We'll be sending a selection back to her as a thank you.

Firstly, four of mine in the natural morning light - Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f4L and 200mm F2.8L:

[iceman]

Nice Chris, can't wait to see the rest.

Love the last one! Gorgeous!

[danielsun]

Beautiful shots Chris and a beautiful model.
Really love the last two.:thumbsup:

[leon]

Nice going Chris beautiful shots and beautiful model.

Leon

[Omaroo]

Thanks fellas :) It's 4:30 and we're off to the beach again for another shoot this morning. What a weekend with 6 hours sleep since Thursday. LOL

[Omaroo]

A couple more from today - (2nd trip there in two days) - Humayun working away off to the right of the first image of this set. There - I've done it and finally captured the elusive "H". LOL

[jjjnettie]

Wow, jaw droppingly good Chris. The second last photo, with the water streaming off the side of the rocks is gorgeous.
Glad to see you two getting some R&R.
I worry about you both so much. (insert hugz smilie here)

[Omaroo]

Thank you Nettie - that means a lot to us :)

Humayun is putting his (predictably) much better images up tomorrow when he gets home. Can't wait to see them :)

[astroron]

:hi:Chris, some great pics you have presented for our perusal:eyepop:
I to love #3 as well:)

I hope you are enjoying your time off:thumbsup:
Cheers

[troypiggo]

Absolutely amazing. Great glamour shots and landscapes to boot.

[Omaroo]

Thanks Ron & Troy for your kind comment. :) Wait until Humayun makes it back to Canberra and gets to process/upload his. They're knockouts as expected. :thumbsup:

[spacezebra]

All stunning shots, composition and execution excellent, well done.

Cheers Petra d.

[alan meehan]

Well done guys truly inspirational shots ,like the b/w
AL

[spearo]

Well done
I especially like the girl standing and the ND shot !
Some awesome colors in the others.
I was wondering where H had gone to!
Well done!
frank

[iceman]

Wow Chris, #3 is absolutely stunning.
Just beautiful.

Where is this location?

[SkyViking]

Those photos are just fantastic, very well done. I too particularly like the 2nd-to-last with the water running off the edge. Thanks for sharing.

[Octane]

Firstly, thanks for a tres uber awesome weekend, mate. We've been planning these outings for eons and I'm glad the planets aligned (muhaha) and we got to have some fun.

Your photographs of our new friend are beyond words. As I said to you, I am envious and jealous that they weren't made by my own hands -- particularly the black-and-white -- exquisite is a word that comes to mind. You must get them printed, on 30x20" canvas, and hang 'em up.

The light at that time of day, within the first 30-45 minutes of the sun coming up (or towards sunset) is magic and so conducive to making flattering portraits.

I am so happy to see you use that landscape eating machine to capture some stunning imagery that will, once again, look remarkable in print.

You'll recall I kept pointing out the mini-waterfall rock shelf image as it kept catching my eye. The final result shows that I was right -- others agree with me in its aesthetic quality.

Top shelf work, mate. Next up, the mountains! :)

H

[Omaroo]

Thanks so much everyone for the kindest comments. I had a photographic/musical ball with Humayun this weekend. A long time coming, but as Humayun says - the planets lined up. LOL. Thank YOU, good friend. Your knowledge and ability, and the willingness to impart it in others, is quite incredible. I also thank you for the continued loan of your 200mm F2.8 L until I manage either one of these or a 70-200 2.8L with stability down the road a little. I promise to take great care of it.

Humayun absolutely convinced me this weekend to drop Aperture and Lightroom for DPP. What a great piece of software that's so completely in tune with the Canon hardware it is designed to implicitly work with. Simply wonderful, and it justifies having the 5D Mk-II.

While I'm very, very happy with some of these 8 shots, I still have nearly 700 more to really go through from this weekend. I'll see if I can post some up soon.

Hopefully Humayun will post some of his from the weekend right here along side. They are going to be spectacular! :thumbsup:

[Octane]

Anytime!

The power of DPP lies in its simplicity.

Rather than messing about with sliders and knobs and endless amounts of jiggerypokery, you are presented with but 3 tabs with a limited set of options. The point being, that it forces you to get things right in the camera in the first place. Then, simple things like white balance, contrast, shadows, sharpness, etc., (not to mention very specific tools for distortion correction) can be applied with simple clicks and obtain immediate feedback. Yes, a few things could be better, such as golden ratios and rules of thirds being explicitly displayed when cropping and so on, but, it's about as good as it gets for free software. If an image needs extra work which requires masking and so on and so forth, then, it's a simple matter of outputting a 16-bit TIFF directly to Photoshop, and playing to ones' heart's content.

As I've mentioned before, we spend lots and lots of money on top shelf hardware and pristine glass, why should software that is /not/ designed (fit for purpose) be used to the detriment of our images and be the weak link in the chain? There's really no excuse for it; how anyone (with good gear) can handle LR/ACR/XYZ completely aping skin tones and highlights, all for the sake of workflow and keywording, is really beyond me. Or, perhaps I'm just really anal?

H

[Ric]

Excellent images Chris.

Both your portraits and your landscapes are wonderfuilly captured.

[suma126]

great work Chris love the last two landscape pics :thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Thanks Ric & Shane - I appreciate your comments :)

[Jen]

Oooooh nice piccies there Chris :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: i cant wait to see H's masterpieces ;) sounds like you had a great time good on ya buddy((hugs))

[Omaroo]

hehe... thanks Jen :) :lol: :hi:

[DavidU]

I just got my first Canon camera and looking at images like these make me want to try. One day LOL
Great work.

[mill]

To be very honest, the first three model shots look very bland to me (sorry to be so blunt).
The fourth shot is a true winner and worthy to be published, it has the wow factor :eyepop:

I am regularly on a photography forum where there are also nude shots and the last shot you did would be among the best there i think.

Please show some more shots :thumbsup:

[hotspur]

Looks like a great photographic excursion,and the chance meeting of a lady that was interested in the whole photography thing too.That's what getting in the field is all about,making things happen!,and its great to see the results.:thumbsup:

I am just wondering about the forth shot of lady,its very good.But I am wondering if the use of a light reflector may have made this image better,obviously you did not plan on the possibility of this chance meet up,and from the sound of it had the sea scenes in mind.You did well capturing these images,impromptu as it were.

I bought the light reflector a little while ago,its big,and has silver on one side,and gold on the other-(apparently gold is the colour for skin),and then its outer skin of gold and silver can be taken off and its a sunlight diffuser.You chaps you doubtless have these or seen them.

Its most likely my screen on my old laptop,but It just appears her body is just a tiny bit dark,a reflector held at a distance and walked in to the subject,until the right distance and effect was gauged,may have improved this image?(this is not a critisism)

Great work well done .And I hope to get your thoughts on the suggestion.As I own a 70-200 L F2.8,and this is the 'main menu' type of missions I bought it for.

Cheers Chris

[Omaroo]

Thanks David :) Great news re; the new camera! Which model did you buy? Lenses? Get out there - it's fun!

Martin - thanks for the input. I personally prefer the b&w because it is the best composed and subtle of the bunch. Her eyes say it all - she's a magic model. I also like her in the surf, but the light wasn't kind at that time in the morning for side-lit features....

...hence Chris. Thank you for your input too. I was saying to Humayun at the time that an umbrella or couple of mylar reflectors would have been nice to have along. D'oh! :) Without over-extending the natural highlights via some excessive curves adjustment I couldn't get make her facial and upper body/shoulder features better lit. As you say - if we'd known that we were going to meet her, I'd certainly have taken some reflectors along. The 70-200 would have been perfect on the day - Humayun showed me that. Thanks again for the encouragement Chris. :thumbsup: