Late start
It is hard to believe it is already the end of July and my year has hardly begun. I had so much planned for 2020 with sold-out workshops in Tuscany, Fuerteventura and Venice too. Like many of us, I’ve been in lockdown since March and just a few weeks ago we were finally allowed to escape these shores and travel to other countries deemed to be no riskier than the UK.
Why Poland?
I contacted a model, Kate Ri on Instagram to see if we could coordinate a location to shoot but unfortunately, her travels in Belgium, Holland and Spain didn’t tie up with my forthcoming plans in those countries. So I did a bit more research and decided to shoot with her in her home country of Poland. It seemed like a sensible thing to do. I booked the flights, an AirB&B apartment in Łódź, a hire car from the airport and I set off for Warsaw. What could possibly go wrong?
Photography kit
Fujifilm X100v & GFX50s cameras, GF23-64mm & GF110mm lenses, Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/2 strength filter, Novo tripod, Benro ball head, RRS quick release plate, Billingham 307 camera bag.
Lighting kit
Godox AD200Pro with X2T-f transmitter, fresnel head, Scatterflash kit, Matthews compact stand
Video Kit
GoPro Hero 8, Fujifilm XA-7, XF18-55mm lens, Amazon Basics tripod, Insta360 pole and tripod base, Pola Pro ND filters, Sony micro audio recorder, Rode lavelier microphone.
You will soon get to see the BTS movies that we shot when I’ve worked out how to cut it all together :) All the kit went into a Think Tank Logistics Manager and the Billingham.
One of my shoot locations was this beautiful old house on Piotrkowska, a famous street in the heart of Łódź. Kate acted as fixer and translator for me and together as well as capturing a few stills we shot a short BTS movie for Scatterflash. Both of these shots were taken with the Godox AD200Pro with the fresnel head and I used a Scatterflash kit for the shot on the left to create the magical light. GFX50s, GF32-64mm lens, ISO 100, 1/125th second exposure at f/5.6 for both shots.
Left top and bottom: A couple of shots of Kate taken in the morning sunlight that graced my apartment. Right: A simple shot lit using a Godox AD200 with Scatterflash from the left of the frame.
Beautifully simple photographs of Kate taken with the GF110mm lens. Left: ISO 200, 1/125th at f/2 Right: ISO 1250, 1/60th at f/2.2
A part of my strategy of shooting portraits that have eye contact is to have a strong and deep connection. It usually takes time to develop the rapport to pull this level of connection into the lens. I didn’t set out to take so many shots with eye contact but Kate’s professionalism made my work easy. Left: GFX50s, GF32-64mm, ISO 1250, 1/60th second at f/4 Right, top & bottom: GFX50s, GF110mm ISO 1250, 1/60th second at f/2
The hallway, stairs and landing of the house location were green. It was a calm green and the paint surface was quite chalky.
GFX50s, GF110mm lens at f/2, ISO 1000, 1/125th second exposure for both images.
Out and about
I didn’t take the GFX out on the streets because I always use it with a tripod and the combination of expensive camera and big tripod would draw too much attention. I took my X100V for all my shoots out and about.
I really like the X100V camera. I’ve had several X100 models in the past but they all had their quirks or issues. Not the ‘V’ though. At last the X100 system has the lens it deserves and there are other refinements too that just make me feel really confident in this cameras ability to produce the goods. I shoot it in manual mode, run the flash sync up to 1/1000th second and I lift the ISO ring into its locked up position and use it for exposure adjustment. The 4 stop ND filter that is built in is so useful too. I’m on a roll with this camera now. All the shots below were taken with the X100V.
Zero cash
I didn’t use any cash for the whole trip as I used the debit card of my Transferwise bank account via my iPhone for all the transactions. This system works a treat everywhere, in corner shops, restaurants and petrol stations etc. The £250 contactless transaction limit when using my phone combined with a no fee/ low fee multi currency debit card is a game changer.
Far fewer of my business transactions these days are in GBP. I get paid royalties in USD, some workshop and webinar fees in EUR and I pay for web hosing, cloud storage, gateway fees, website plugins, and all those pesky small monthly amounts in USD. I have no need to convert money via GBP anymore. I went straigt from USD to Polish Zloty for this trip as required without any transaction or cash handling fees.
Above: These are the kind of places that excite me. Little courtyards full of character that sit behind the oppulent frontages of Victorian houses. It’s interesting that the word Victoriana is in common usage in Poland describing objects and buildings from a glorious past. I used the X100V at ISO 200, 1/1000th second, f/2.8
BTS: A behind the scenes shot showing my light position. You can see the Godox AD200 at 1/32 power on the Matthews stand and the flash is fitted with a Scatterflash kit to give the light a dappled texture.
These stairs went a short way up to a hay loft over an old stable. The door at the top was padlocked but the stairs themselves seemed like a great spot for a quick shot. ISO 160, f/2 at 1/500th second with the four stop ND filter. The Godox AD200 flash was on 1/2 power and fitted with an Alto Scatterflash.
There is massive building development underway in Łódź but there are still a few run down classic buildings in the ‘Old Town’ area of the city. It has a Havana vibe and the textures are wonderful. I used natural light for these casual shots of Kate. All shots: X100V, ISO 250, 1/125th at f/2
I pushed the sensitivity up to give me a fast shutter speed. This was to reduce subject blur on Kate’s movement. ISO 1000, 1/500th second at f/2
I was using the ISO dial in the locked raised position on the X100V to tweak the exposures throughout the shoot. It’s a great way to keep the control of the exposure while shooting in full manual mode. I wanted to shoot at f/2 because this lens is superb wide open and a shutter speed of 1/125th was spot on to keep camera shake at bay. Left: ISO 800 Right: ISO 200
Simple beauty portraits like these work so well with the 23mm lens of the X100V. There is an intimacy created by the short camera to subject distance but the distortion is well handled. These are the kind of shots that I’d miss being able to take if I had chosen the Leica Q2 with its fixed 28mm lens instead of the V with its 35mm equivalent lens. It was a close call and I feel I made the right decision.
None of the shots in this post has been near Photoshop. I love to keep it real. There is a real feeling of authentisity with this way of shooting. It feels so analogue and fresh. I can be lazy too, burning through 300 pictures from the day’s shoot selecting 100 or so to tidy up and rename. 90 minutes later and the set is complete.
The great thing about shooting film and optical printing back in the day is there was no cloning. Just dodging and burning. I shot film professionally from 1984 until 2001 hand printing everything in my own lab. These days of course its trendy to shoot on film but if the negs are scanned and Photoshopped the benefits and integrity of the medium are lost.
X100V, ISO 160, 1/500th second at f/2
Next we headed off to EC1 Łódź – Miasto Kultury. A redeveloped power station with big open spaces to shoot in. We avoided the security cameras and set about capturing some casual shots like this and the fashion styled shots below using flash.
I lit Kate with the Godox AD200 and the ‘Crunch’ Scatterflash gel. Flash was on 1:1 full power. X100V, ND, ISO 160, 1/125th second at f/2.8
Settings as above. Once I have my settings dialed in I leave them set and just move the light between locations.
A BTS set showing the Crunch Scatterflash and the relationship between light position and subject.
Hi Damien, I love your works, but that’s goes without saying as it is an understatement.
You mentioned that “Both of these shots were taken with the Godox AD200Pro with the fresnel head”…….you mean the fresnel plastic that comes with the flash? Is it possible to have a fresnel on a Godox AD400Pro?
Thanks!
Thank you, Marcos,
I mean the fresnel head not just the plastic bit but the tiny but powerful flash tube that comes with it. It’s the same structure as the Fresnel lens on the front of a Speedlight. On a Speedlight it can be zoomed, on an AD200 it is fixed at a moderately wide angle of coverage. The light source is small and generates lovely crisp shadows. There is no fresnel head available for the AD400 that I know of. I hope this helps,
Kindest regards,
Damien.
Hi Damien, Thanks for providing your educational down loads. I have several, you have made me a better photographer. I Just purchased a 100V and wondering how you used it for the closeup B&W portraits. Did you crop into the image, or use the digital tele converter. If so what distance did you use it at. The lack of distortion is nice. Was she in the middle of the frame. Thanks, Denson
Hi Denson,
Thanks for your kind words. I just work intimately close with some people. If someone has a small nose or flatter facial features it is quite flattering to get a bit closer. If there is any cropping it is to straighten the image. That is the only frustration for me having to straighten every image from the X100V because I’m using it handheld.
Kind regards, Damien.
That x100V shots are really great Damien. The other shots too of course. Because I am considering buying a Godox AD200pro, this website really helps/inspires.
Your work is always inspiring. I really love the x100V shots. They look absolutely stunning. I bought a V too after it was launched. Initially I planned to bring it to Fuerteventura to shoot with you. Unfortunately, your workshop was postponed and I had to cancel it because the new dates wouldn’t fit in with my schedule. I will keep an eye on your 2021 workshops, and look forward to learning from you again in new adventures.
Thank you Nan Li,
Let’s hope 2021 proves to be a year of healing and new adventures. Stay safe and I look forward to shooting with you next year.
Kindest regards,
Damien
Jaw-dropping images yet again. A couple of questions. Love that these haven’t been Photoshopped, it’s something that I’m aspiring to. But did you use Lightroom/Capture One or similar? If so, what adjustments did you make? Also, love Kate’s outfits. Were they hers? Did you decide on the looks before the shoot?
Thank you Andrew.
I shot the GFX50s in Pro Neg S mode with Highlight tone at -1 and shadow tone at -2. Then in Lightroom, I have my XMP preset that is auto-applied to GFx50s files that emulates the in-camera settings. Pro Neg S, highlight slider to the left and shadow slider quite a long way to the right. I then tweak the lighting balance a bit if required using the radial or gradient tools. I then create two virtual copies, one goes to Acros G and the other gets a LUT applied and faded back as required.
The X100V had Classic Neg in the camera but unfortunately, Lightroom still hasn’t got it for the raws from this camera. So I had to make do with Classic Chrome in Lightroom and push the black level to the right a bit too. I had to straighten every shot because I was hand holding the camera and I was seemingly never level. All my GFX shots were on the tripod with the camera levelled before shooting using the green level display. Once I was happy with the files I added one of two LUTs that suited the shot.
The clothes were all Kate’s as I had a full case with my cameras and lighting kit etc. I sent her 4 detailed moodboards and I wrote a brief. Kate brought a suitcase full of clothes and we sorted them into outfits at the start of the shoot. We then used the Airbnb apartment that I had hired as our base and we went from there with the necessary styling out to the location.
I hope this is of some use,
Kindest regards,
Damien.
Excellent, looking forward to the BTS
Thanks, Paul,
Me too :)
Damien.
Stunning and inspiring images, Damien! I’m really missing your workshops this year…
Hi Jay, Thank you.
I’m missing them too, so I thought I’d try this one mini-adventure outside my comfort zone to pick me up again. I look forward to spending time with you on some adventure or workshop in 2021.
Take good care my friend.
Damien.
Great Start to a Saturday morning! Keep thinking of the 100V and this has made my mind up. Now to get my hands on one. Lovely shots: kept wishing I was there but stay at home is the current PH policy and stay local to avoid CV as we have none on our Island.
Thank you Chris,
Stay safe my friend. Once there is a vaccine you’ll be able to travel again without the fear etc.
Kindest regards,
Damien
Outstanding, Damien. I truly enjoy spending time with your work.
I should be getting an X100V shortly and I will then bring it to Tuscany 2021.
Thank you Patrick,
The compliments are very welcome. I just had to get out and get back up to speed with shooting. Out of my comfort zone was important too. New country, uncertain times, new model etc. It went to plan. I will consult with you re possible dates for Tuscany 2021 once we have Covid 19 out of the way or under control.
Have fun with your X100V and I am happy to do a mini set up session over Skype if that would be useful.
Kindest regards,
Damien.
Lot’s of stunning pictures, gorgeous model, great locations and plenty of background information – amazing educational stuff (… perfect as always ..) !!! Thanks a lot Damien !!!
Thank you Juergen for your kind words.
Best regards,
Damien.
Great images Damien. I really love the image on the small stairs.
Excellent work as always.
Dave
Hi David,
Thank you for your praise. The small stairs shoot was a good one :) Sometimes the simplest shots are the best.
Cheers,
Damien.
Unsurprisingly another great set of images Damien. The accompanying commentary was also interesting. Shots like these are always inspirational, one thing is clear, I need to up my game.
Hi Gordon,
Thank you for your kind words. Sometimes the simplest of pictures to take are the most beautiful. Stay inspired and keep your photography fun.
Kindest regards,
Damien.