Model test shoot ~ Pictures and slideshow presentation

May 30, 2010 | Flash, Location, News, Studio

Here are a few pictures from a test shoot I did with Rosie Pitt last Wednesday. I set the pictures to some royalty free music using Fotomagico slideshow software.

I used a Canon 5D mk2 with my 100mm f/2.8 lens for all the shots. Lighting in the field was from one Broncolor Mobil head in a Bowens Wafer softbox. I only used flash on a couple of the shots. I deliberatelyincreased the exposure in camera by 2 stops on what the camera meter indicated and hoped that Marko could make the shots sing.

The studio session used just one light on a stand, a Broncolor Kobold DF400w HMI daylight balanced Fresnel spotlight and a Speedlight in my Lovecube set to 1/16th power.

This is a bit of an experiment for me. It’s an idea that was given to me on Twitter. Originally I thought I’d narrate the details of the shots but whatever way I tried to do it, I ruined the feel of the movie.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions below.

19 Comments

  1. Kevin Cull

    Another endorsement for beauty in simplicity, love it!
    Kindest regards,
    Kevin

    Reply
    • damien

      Thanks Kevin.

      Reply
  2. Kevin Cull

    Another endorsement for beauty in simplicity, love it!
    Kindest regards,
    Kevin

    Reply
  3. Juegos

    Added to my favs!

    Reply
  4. Country Royalty Free Music

    Personally i think i am going to use a mixture of animoto and fotomagico, audiojungle is a great tip thanks!.

    Reply
  5. martin

    Hi Everyone,

    Animoto is not bad its a bit choppy and as per the previous comment it might not be to everyone’s taste!, its very easy to use you can have a free trial so its worth a test!, it does have a music selection but its a bit grim!!, personally i think i am going to use a mixture of animoto and fotomagico, audiojungle is a great tip thanks!.

    Reply
  6. damien

    Hi Alex,

    I think it was called clear blue skies.

    Regards, Damien

    Reply
  7. damien

    Hi Markus,

    No hay fever here :)

    Cheers, Damien.

    Reply
  8. damien

    Hi Ian,

    Safari comes with Quicktime straight out of the box so I’ve no idea how it could become incompatible with Apple’s very own video format. Hmm. Works fine here on all our Macs.

    Cheers, Damien.

    Reply
  9. damien

    Hi Matt,

    Thanks for the Triple Scoop music idea. Their website didn’t work on my iPad so I’ll check it out at some point soon on my laptop.

    I just sort music in Audacity normally but I’ve not gone to any trouble for this production. Fotomagico will fit your slides to the music duration etc etc.

    Fotomagico Pro outputs in loads of formats including iPhone, web movie, MP4, H264 Quicktime, straight to DVD, Apple TV and even full HD.

    I’ll look into soundslides Plus. What I want is drag and drop input, probably no zooms etc, with smooth clean sharp pictures on the output with a small file size:)

    Not much to ask for then.

    Regards, Damien.

    Reply
  10. AlexSnaps

    Excellent slideshow! Damien, may you share with us name of the track played in it?

    Reply
  11. Markus MacGill

    I just want to know, did the shoot trigger hayfever for anyone?!

    I love the running-through-the-fields stuff. From feedback I’ve had, women seem love pictures like these that give a feeling of liberation. Somehow the slideshow motion helps with that feeling. I’m really inspired to try and get more of this kind of emotion and lighting in my photos.

    I’d like to have seen lighter-looking bras on the model though – you know, just that little bit more liberation ;-)

    Reply
  12. Ian Freelance

    If you are on a Mac, using the Safari browser and are unable to watch the quicktime file; use a different browser such as Firefox and this should enable you to see the slideshow.

    Reply
  13. Matt Pereira

    Damien, there’s the obvious Triple Scoop Music for music – amazing quality and none of that plinky-dinky rubbish you find on some Royalty Free sites …

    How did you find FotoMagico for finer control of music, compared to ProShow Gold – and also burning to DVD too, for playing on a home DVD player ?

    I just have not found anything on Mac that matches up to the power and simplicity of PSG :-( If only they would port the app to Mac!

    Have you tried SoundSlides Plus – very good for web based slideshows?

    Reply
  14. damien

    I’ve been asked on Twitter about my source for the music and I thought I’d share my replies here.

    The royalty free and rights managed music industry is a minefield. It is quite possible I’m sure to spend many days trawling through naff and inappropriate tunes to find the needle in the haystack that is an acceptable piece of music for a particular production.

    The first task is the hardest, to find a website with a search system that works well. I stumbled across Audiojungle and was immediately impressed with it’s openness. Each tune is rated and shows the number of downloads. So it is quite easy to search by genre then refine by the most popular or highest rated. I did just that for this project and took the number 2 tune.

    Do you know a great website for music?

    Damien.

    Reply
  15. damien

    Hi Neal,

    I work on a Mac as most of you know so the obvious choice of Pro Show Gold etc was not an option. iPhoto/ iMovie could have done similar moves etc but the timing system for moves and transitions in Fotomagico is wonderfully simple.

    This is my first ever project with Fotomagico and I feel the limitations are with me and not the software. I’m going to trawl the net for more elaborate Fotomagico projects to learn what is possible and to get some inspiration.

    Regards,

    Damien.

    Reply
  16. damien

    Hi Wayne, you are absolutely right. Slow motion video would have worked really well in this production. Fotomagico handles video alongside pictures too in a drag and drop kind of way.

    I cobbled together the video. It was triggered by a thought sent to me in a Twitter direct message. I was about to post a set of pictures from a model test shoot anyway so I combined those pictures with the Fotomagico idea.

    Cheers, Damien

    Reply
  17. Neal Shaw

    Very nice slideshow Damien – interested to know if fotomagico is your prefered software or have you used others that are equally as good.
    Neal

    Reply
  18. Wayne Williams

    Brilliant Damien!

    This would also work with some HD video mixed in.
    A little fusion project maybe?

    Wayne

    Reply

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