Olympic Golden Great Webinar today

Olympic Gold Medalist David Hemery

A last moment announcement on my blog though it has been trailed pretty heavily elsewhere.

I have been rather busy of late and blogging and tweeting have been far from my mind....more of that to come.

Tonight I will be talking about the 'Olympic Golden Greats' series which Lucinda and I shot over the past two years on webinar hosted by Manfrotto.

There are still some spaces left if you click here

Even if you care nothing for sport you may be interested in the location lighting side of it.

Please come and join me.

Medium Format V's DSLR

In the Golden Greats project, all the images were shot on my Phase One P65+ with Schneider lenses.

All that is apart from one.

When we held the private view somebody asked if they were all shot with Phase One?

I said one was not, and asked that person if he could spot it?

I was all too aware which was shot on a DSLR when the prints were being done....and I will come on to that a little later.

But could other photographers there spot it?

Every single one did, and it became quite a talking point, and I found myself, rightly or wrongly, justifying or even defending myself for shooting that one portrait on a DSLR.

Why did Lucinda and I shoot this on the Canon 5d MkII?

Well the idea was to shoot the portrait at F1.2, and this was the very first shot in the series, we wanted to shoot the image on the Phase but time just didn't allow it to happen.

Lucinda was in the Canon camp while I was in the Phase One camp......

We were, and still are, very pleased with the portrait of David Hemery who won gold in the 400 meters hurdles in Mexico 1968, check this YouTube video of his win out and see the margin by which he wins, setting a world record in the process.

I knew there would be a difference between DSLR and Phase One, but I must admit I was taken aback by the gap.

Let me make one thing clear this is not an attack on the 5dmkII.

And I'm not really being totally fair, two different sized files etc

But this is a real world comparison as to how two similar files look when printed BIG

It remains my DSLR of choice(5d MkIII pending, until my credit card gets over the pounding meted out by the purchase of the brilliant Canon C300)

A truly amazing and versatile camera, though don't expect it to hold up compared to a Phase One, particularly if you intend to make a print more than a meter wide.

I know it is not every day that one does this, but when you do what a difference.......

21 megapixels v 60 megapixels, are I believe only part of the story, the rest of the disparity coming from 16 bit capture and those Schneider LS lenses.

I formally used the Hasselblad 'H' System with various different Phase One backs and I made the switch to the Phase One system, a big part of the decision was the lenses, I feel the Schneider LS lenses outperform the Hasselblad lenses on every level, they are smaller and lighter too.

Digital fusion ran a series of tests which make pretty interesting viewing.

How would the Nikon D800 have fared? I would like to do a test at some point but suspect that even with more pixels than the 5D MkII that it would not be close.

I'm very happy with this!

When you have a sponsored event, coverage is King.

Not only to get better attendance numbers but giving sponsors the exposure after they have supported you.

It gets no better than this.

The exhibition and project was featured on the Team GB website.

Videos to follow soon, along with more tales of our adventures.

Olympic Golden Greats Part 3 - Ann Packer

Photography is just a reflection of life.

Imperfect.

Lucinda and I planned to photograph Ann Packer who won the 800 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games setting a new world record in the process.

But where to photograph her?

All of the Gold Medalists we have shot have been photographed at a location, wherever possible, which is special to them, relevant, or is impressive.

On this occasion for various logistical reasons it simply was not possible.

We had to shoot the portrait at her home in the middle of Winter.

What to do?

We had to arrange the shot so it would work well as a still photo and would make the basis of a good background for a video and interview, as time was short (we used the Canon XF305 and a Canon 5dMkII for the video....what I would have given for a Canon C300....sigh)

We opted for a simple very set build to cover both bases.

We decided to hang a beautiful old style, stitched fabric, Union Flag (the right way up with the aid of Wikipedia) between two Manfrotto BAC1004 Stacker stands (which don't rattle in the boot of the car, thus preserving sanity) and Manfrotto 2983 Crossbar.

The flag is a very handy prop, indeed and has featured in several of my hotshots over the years.

Where did I get it from?

A church roof.

Yes, really church roof.

And before anyone gets warmed up over this and thinks I have taken it a little too far in my quest for the perfect picture prop, I did in fact pay for it.

The Vicar of a rural Oxfordshire church was seeking to renew the somewhat battered flag and I offered him a modest amount of money for the flag.

We struck a deal and have a very well used prop.

Along with the rest of the series we chose to shoot with the Schneider Kreuznach LS 110mm f/2.8 wide open at F2.8 on the Phase One DF with a P65+ back at 50 ISO.

I used my big Gitzo with Manfrotto 405 Geared head for maximum precision.

We lit the set with 3 Elinchrom Quadra flashes.

The key light modified with a Chimera Medium soft box.

The back light for Anne (coming in from camera right) modified with Chimera XXS soft box with a light tools egg crate.

Finally one light to the centre of the flag with a kill spill and a honeycomb grid.

Not a super complex set up but one which was based on subtlety, I like to think anyhow.

Overall I'm very pleased with the shot.

We moved a fair bit of furniture( this takes more time than the shoot in most cases) and turned the living room into a studio.

Its not the first time, nor will it be the last time.

Making the best of an imperfect scenario.

Once again this is part of the 'Olympic Golden greats' exhibition at the John Lewis store at the Westfield centre, Stratford.

Sponsored by Manfrotto and printed by Velmex on Canon LFP Printers.