Down on the beach at sunset

There are days when events conspire against you and days when everything just comes together and smells of roses, yesterday was one of those days.

For some time now I've wanted to create images in the style of artist Jack Vettriano and with the help of the wonderful Emma & assisted by Les we're getting there. We set out with the goal of creating two totally different scenes but as the light changed decided to roll with it, achieving some excellent results.

The whole shoot was done with the most basic gear. Shot on a Canon 5D Mk2 with 24 - 105 mm L Series zoom lens, a single Elinchrom Quadra A head with a standard 18cm dish reflector, a couple of double clips, a Lee 775 Soft Amber Key 2 cosmetic lighting filter and a California Sunbounce Pro 6' x 4' white/silver reflector which served as a flag to block the sun!

The Quadra head was mounted onto a 36" boom arm attached to lighting stand with an Avenger D200 Grip Head and positioned just out of frame. The flash was metered with a Sekonic flash meter as I wasn't too sure where the exposure would go with an unknown gel. The background I've dropped by about 1 2/3 stops to add to the mood with the gel mimicking the setting sun.

A degree of planning with Emma went into these images in order to select appropriate wardrobe and props.

The above image sans flash, just ambient.

You'll see from this I burned in the foreground of the final image to draw the viewers eye more toward Emma.

For the following two images Les was put to work positioning the big boy Sunbounce to block the setting sun from Emma. We moved position by about 30 or so metres and 180° from our original position.

The sun was still just above the horizon giving us a beautiful pastel sky.

No adjustment to the camera exposure for this one, just the sun dropping lower in the sky bringing wonderful orange/magenta hues to the image.

And finally, once the sun dropped below the horizon . . .

. . . We carried on shooting!

There you have it, one light, a lighting filter which not only enhances a scene with warmth, but also softens the shadow edges because of built-in frosting. A great team and some magical light really made for some stunning images. Thank you Emma & Les for being such a great team:)

For those of you wanting to improve and extend your photography lighting skills visit The LIGHT Side on Facebook where photographers at all levels contribute and constructively comment https://www.facebook.com/groups/thelightsidegroup/

Elinchrom flash are available from The Flash Centre. Contact Simon Burfoot and don't forget to mention this blog!