On request I am sharing how I get that cold blue look in my Oslo in Winter series. The technique I have used is called Split Toning. I love the cold feel of using blue for toning instead of Sepia, for example.
When it comes to Lightroom I am on a learning path. I wish it was a learning curve :-)
I have googled ‘free lightroom presets’ many times, but haven’t found one like the one I use in Photoshop and until I get the hang of creating my own LR presets I guess I will continue to begin in LR and take the images over to Photoshop for the final touch.
I would probably be Scott Kelby’s nightmare customer. I have worked on an off for years implementing logistics systems for large companies and my own worst nighmare is people who simply cannot let go of the old system and trust the new. So pretty ironic that it is the same way I move around Lightroom and Photoshop myself :-)
This year has brought some new friends – after stalking a stranger on the tram in June!
One of them is the multi-talented drummer / singer and songwriter Thomas Hofstad.
Working with Thomas finally made me make the plunge into filming video with my Canon 5D Mk II and creating video with Adobe Premiere Elements.
We are sort of really working on a project with still images and a story to accompany one of his own songs. But a few weeks ago Thomas came and told me he had recorded “O Holy Night”, and would I like to listen?
So I did. And said; lets put Project 1 on hold for a few weeks. I’ll ask around a bit on how it is done, and let’s try to make a simple video to go with this song, in time for Christmas. We can pair it up with some of my winter images.
When I started filming, I realised – of course – that being a film photographer is not the same as being a stills photographer. And then the deadline – could we make something we were happy to publish within the time available? Or was it better to wait until next year and then hopefully have turned into a totally professional singer / performer and movie photographer?
On the first attempt I filmed from far away, coming home to realise that you can hardly see Thomas on a YouTube format. So we went back. I filmed closer.
We couldn’t decide whether he should look at the camera or not. How long sequences should we film? We decided to film the whole song each time for a new angle as that would give us more freedom when piecing it all together.
Then the fact that Thomas is taller than me so if I was filming from the same level he would constantly look down at me. So we brought a step ladder. The Oslo Opera House is a building with many levels so we also found a place where I could stand a bit higher.
Then I realised the lens I had brought didn’t allow me to be closer than one metre, so that became a limitation we had to live with. Time was running out.
As I had started the camera I looked away and started wantering around a bit not to disturb him while singing. Which actually was not a very good idea, as he was clueless about how he was doing. I was thinking – being no music expert – I’d better stay out of it. After a while I figured we had material enough to use and then I relaxed a bit. I still did not dare to look at him while he was singing – but I looked at the screen. And without knowing – at some point I had given Thomas a thumbs-up which he in turn felt was very encouraging.
As a photographer – if this was not a time to be present in the moment - then when? I have not much experience in working with a model – as ‘capturing moments’ I find much easier. So we decided he should look into the camera, but look away when he was concentrating, just as he would do if he was singing for or talking to just one person.
Then a late evening followed with our technical advisor Trond Nilsen, and it was a wrap.
We are so pleased with the result! So we have published it on YouTube.
Last night I went to a pre-christmas dinner with some photography friends. I asked them to tell me – not what they liked – but what I could improve. So I got a lot of tips on using different camera angles, in which order to film from where, building up the story through the complementing images, and how. And a third project may be in the pipeline from that discussion, we’ll see.
We have also worked on further ideas with our creative director ;-)
If we had not published I wouldn’t have had anything to show them, which again leads me to daring to show ones work, be pleased with it on the level where one is. Don’t wait until everything is perfect. You are probably dead before that day comes. Learn as you go along. Learn and share!
It is the 24th today, which is the day we celebrate Christmas in Norway. So off tho the party!
This time of year Oslo is dark when going to work, and dark when leaving. So if I want to shoot in daylight, the weekends is the only option.
But I don’t :-)
I love using available light, like in these images. I shot the first image on the way home from the office and went back a later day with Thomas to see what we could get out of the location.
There is one massive lamp I am shooting towards, and there is also light coming from my left. Thomas had to look up for me to get enough light in his face.
It sort of fits with the theme of the song we are collecting images for, as it is called “Watching the Stars“. But we can’t have him look up in all the images.
If it is a close-up, he can hold a reflector himself, to lift the shadows under the chin and eye-brows a bit. Somewhat helpful.
I confess. I hate using flash. I cant get my pocket wizards to work. I went out and bought a snoot yesterday and know I have to sort it out if i want to continue shooting arranged images in the dark. But it feels like a bitter pill to swallow :-)
The idea of saying ‘yes’ to challenges sends me off in unexpected directions sometimes. And of course it can be about giving yourself a challenge. The challenge doesn’t have to come from someone else!
I suggested to re-shoot some of the band images of just the drummer in the band I have been working with. Before photographing the band I had read articles about “How to shoot good band phtotos” and they usually had a line saying “Don’t forget the drummer”. Which I sort of had done. This took us back to the rehearsal studio on a sunday afternoon.
After re-shooting those we tried for some ‘James Dean style’ photos in the street outside the rehearsal studio. I felt that the James Dean look would be a good match with Thomas’ look.
After I got home in front of the computer I found out that Thomas makes his own music as well. After listening to a few songs I realised that the photos we had taken in the street really matched his style of music.
So I suggested I could make a slideshow of those images to go with his song, mixed with some of the images in my “Moody Oslo” series that I am working on. And Thomas said ‘yes’. (He said ‘YESSSSS!’)
We decided on his song called ‘Watching the Stars’. The song is about two people who are sort of in their own worlds not realising that the other person has been there all the time.
After a while we simultaneously had come to the conclusion that perhaps we could also tell a story with the images. So we introduced a young lady and started shooting for a purpose. I am used to walking the streets photographing whatever shows up but now it changed to a whole different type of photography. Costumes. Props. A big change for me!
And for each image, the question – “What are we trying to say with this image”. And one of the scenes will be about the main character lying in bed, dreaming about her. And she is also in the same situation, dreaming of him. They both do not realise that the other person has actually been there all the time. It is just about opening your eyes and see.
I don’t know if you can still follow me, but I then photographed from a step ladder onto the living room floor where we had placed a duvet from which they could ‘watch the stars’. The idea is to have them both in the same spot, and later have the portraits blend into each other in the final slideshow.
This video is showing the process of shooting just those two portraits of two young sad-sad-sad people. :-) Hope this makes sense!
We don’t have a deadline for our project but I will post the final video when we get there. And perhaps some more moments worth sharing will show up on the way :-)
For now we are just enjoying the journey.
If you would like to listen to more of Thomas Hafstads music you can find it on his ‘Band Page’ tab on his Facebook Page here:
Navy was our guide in Cambodia. He loved telling stories on the bus, using the microphone.
I think it was Jeffrey who asked, “So why are you always so happy, Navy?”
The answer made my jaw drop. “We have peace after thirty years of war, how can I NOT be happy?”
One of Navy’s war stories was about when he was living with his uncle and his family. I believe he was about seventeen years old. One day he asked his uncle if he could borrow two kilos of rice. The uncle agreed and he went to one of the floating villages and exchanged the two kilos of rice for two kilos of fish. He then walked to the marked and exchanged the fish for five kilos of rice, and he came home to the uncle with the five kilos of rice, having earned three.
This type of scenario kept repeating. Carrying rice and fish was heavy, took a long time so he asked his uncle if he could have a bicycle. His uncle could not provide him with a bicycle so they kept searching for loose parts after finding a frame. They managed to create a bicycle that wasn’t really functionable, but at least could carry the load.
One day he agreed with a lady that he could buy her pig and sell it on the market. They agreed that he could pay after he had sold it. So off he went to the market, with the 81 kilo heavy pig tied upside down, alive, on the back of the bike. The reason they tie them upside down is because the the pig get desoriented and doesn’t move.
He crashed the bike into a dike and fell into the water and fainted. When he woke up he was dizzy, but after a while came to his senses and discovered that the pig was still there.
He rearranged the bike with the pig upside down again and went to the market. The buyer weighed the pig to be 91 kilos. Ten kilos more that when he weighed it with the owner.
So of course he got a better price, and those ten kilos – or litres – of water that the pig had drunk when Navy was unconscious, finally gave him the money he needed for a real bicycle.
Eli is a passionate photographer with a distinct style, killer visual instincts, and strong sense of humour, all of which finds itself in her work. This is her blog.
Eli is based in Oslo, Norway.
