Knowhow: Studio & Gear.
Studio
Taking advantage of a house renovation a few years ago, I made the decision to include a purpose-built photographic studio. Right now, I am shooting out of a temporary studio space nearby, but plan to get the home studio back up and running as soon as possible!
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Camera
The heart of a photographers kitbag: I’ve worked with Canon gear for as long as I can remember. It’s reliable, gives me great quality images, and is easily repaired or replaced should the worst happen.
My go-to workhorse for the last 10 years has been my trusty 21-megapixel Canon 5D MkII. It has served me well over the years, but recently started showing its age with a greater number of images missing out on that eyelash critical sharpness thats so important on studio pieces.
I considered investing in a higher end digital medium format camera, but the expense was too much for hobby use. Instead, I chose to use the 50-megapixel Canon 5DsR for its near-medium format quality and bulletproof studio dependability, together with its modern technical features like advanced autofocus and metering systems. It’s the ultimate SLR for studio use and it allows me to produce the finest quality images short of spending upwards of five figures on a camera body.
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Lenses
I’m an avid admirer of Canon’s L-series lenses, to get the finest quality images under all lighting conditions. My main lenses are:
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM
• Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
• Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
• Canon EF 17-40mm f4 L USM
• Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM
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Light.
Light is the life-blood of photography. Good light will highlight some components and subdue others.
I’d love to boast a set of Profoto or Broncolor studio packs and heads, with a brace of parabolic reflectors and modifiers, but realistically, that is getting well into five figure territory.
Instead, I use Bowens Gemini Professional monolights, and Godox AD200 & AD600 Pro battery-operated heads for location work.
This might not be quite enough to freeze a dancers fingertips as they leap across the frame in a grand jete, but it’s close enough, and fits my budget.
I have a number of softboxes, umberellas and other modifiers to mould the light around the model to suit my vision.