Ela Photography

Beauty Shoot – Retouch Test

Ela — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:08:52 +0000

Hi there!

Was playing around with some retouching techniques a few weeks ago and thought I would give it a go studio style. Now I am absolutely no studio photographer which I can accept. I draw the line with my translucent and reflective umbrellas and eventually maybe a Lastolite EzyBox softbox.. But no oversized beauty dishes or large softboxes, because let’s face it, I like to keep it mobile and I’m fairly weak in the muscle department to lugg around such heavy equipment. ..Now Jonathan Dear from Vibrant Photography on the other hand has every light modifying tool under the sun and he would beg to differ hehe.

So here goes, my beauty shoot test shoot with the one and only Katie Headrick. (You’re going to have to excuse the larger version taking up 200% of your page. For the thumbnail versions visit my FaceBook group here.

Shot with my Orbis Ring Flash, my hero light modifier.

Bye bye for now!

Your illawarra photographer, Ela!

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40th Year Anniversary – Couple Shoot

Ela — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:06:28 +0000

I’m speechless.

LOL.. Blooper moment.

Celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary.

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The Flowers – Dani & Geoff Wedding – The Illawarra

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:48:47 +0000

The flowers featured in Dani’s bridal party from Classique Flowers in Fairy Meadow. Loved the yellow benches sitting around the hotel they were staying at. Simple flowers and yet still made a statement.

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Wedding Day – Dani & Geoff

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:37:51 +0000

Twas bliss on their wedding day, mid July and not a cloud in sight! We were in luck! Let me introduce you to the wedding day of a very down-to-earth couple, Dani & Geoff. It turns out they were in the army together and along the way Geoff asked her out. He mentioned in his speech at the reception that it was rather daunting asking her out.. because she was his Boss! That’s how they started out, and this is how the next chapter will begin.

What can I say, I had a blast capturing their wedding and have been super excited to show them these highlights. Visit my latest blog posts to find more highlight shots from their special day.

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The Rings – Dani & Geoff’s Wedding – Wollongong Wedding Photographer

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:29:40 +0000

A fun little ring shot for the details shot. Around the hotel they were staying at had some really nice scenery to incorporate into details and ring shots. Seeing as though the girls were literally an hour late back to the hotel from getting ready, I had plenty of time to play with the rings.

If you’re interested in seeing more highlight images check out their wedding slideshow here, my blog post featuring their wedding day or join my FaceBook group here.. Options, options.

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Wedding Day – Illawarra Wedding Photographer

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:22:22 +0000

Another shot from their wedding at the heart of Wollongong – Little lighthouse. The break wall is always a winner for a shot and I love the expression on Dani’s face. Another one of my favourite shots from their wedding on Saturday.

To view their other highlight images, visit my blog page here.

For Dani & Geoff’s wedding slideshow click here.

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Danielle & Geoffrey – Wedding Day – Lake Illawarra

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:10:45 +0000

Sneak peek from Saturday’s wedding. The 5 hour reception was filled with stories to tell during the speeches, slow shutter speed effects playing alongside ‘NutBush City Limits’ while the guests partied the night away.. and cheeky facial expressions from the kids.

I have to say though the day can get quite stressful leading up to the ceremony, but when I met Dani for the first time she explained her tendency to be laid back and stress free. Her Dani and her sister came over to view the albums I had on show and chatted about what style of wedding photos Dani wanted and which shots were the “No-no’s” lol. But having sat down with them for only 5-10 minutes, I knew her wedding day was going to be fabulous.

I have posted up some highlights on my blog as a sneak preview here. Enjoy!

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Danielle & Geoffrey – Wedding Slideshow – Wollongong Wedding Photographer

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:56:29 +0000

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Geoffrey & Danielle – Wedding Day – Illawarra Wedding Photographer

Ela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:28:46 +0000

Geoffrey & Danielle’s Wedding was nothing short of unforgettable. The location portraits were full of random laughter from the bridal party, Dani’s urge to pull faces in photos, and on my part.. fading-light phoebia (I don’t think there’s a formal name for that). But nowadays, daylight savings sets out to make my job just a tad bit harder by the sun setting no later than 5:30 if we’re lucky LOL. So off we went to Wollongong Little Lighthouse, then to Port Kembla’s outer harbour to take advantage of the rustic scenery (again hehe) but keeping the sun in mind.

The reception featured a gorgeous slideshow of their past memories together, and growing up as kids. The tables had amazing centrepieces with floating candles and orchid stems. The bridesmaids hot pink dresses made me smile I’m a bit of a pink junky myself you see..

Dani’s father married the two of them, making the ceremony more special. Right on the water’s edge of beautiful Lake Illawarra, the afternoon sunlight shining in and the candid laughs the two of them shared during the ceremony. They couldn’t keep their eyes off one another and I had an absolute blast having the opportunity to photograph their wedding day.

Here’s to a long and happy future.. thanks for having me! Here’s a little sneak preview to hold you off until your edited images arrive.

There was an intersting yellow seat that looked about 30 years old. Loved the texture of it, couldn’t help myself

Shot at the lighthouse. Thought I would make it more interesting as a vertical panorama.

Loving the rim light on this shot below.

An off to Port Kembla we went. Got out my 50mm lens, probably the next series are my favourite shots of the day. Love the depth and candid nature of them.

This one makes me smile

..and the blooper shot, where everyone’s personality shines through!

Dani insisted on this shot, that’s just the fun & quirky couple they are

The ‘MySpace’ shot – it brings me back to high school when we would sit in the quad snapping away during recess to pass time and record our memories as high school buddies. Geoffrey mentioned Danielle was a bit of a ‘MySpace’ digital camera junkie, hence why this shot was so necessary.

First dance as husband and wife. sigh.

and they lived happily ever after..

Thanks for stopping by!

Your wedding photographer, Ela! x

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Editorial Shoot – Sharna – Illawarra Fashion Photographer

Ela — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:56:10 +0000

Shot with Olivia Clee and Ulladulla model, Sharna on the weekend for an editorial shoot. We searched the streets of the Wollongong CBD and found all sorts of cool textures – red bricks, rusted window grates and the slats outside the Ibis Hotel Wollongong.

We shot for aroun 2.5 hours, it rained on and off, but Sharna was a trooper so she didn’t let a little flyaway frizz worry her (true spirits of a real model).

Basically what I did here is set up my ring flash to camera left, at 45 degrees. Had the aperture on f/1.8 which I could get away with because the Orbis ring flash can lose up to 3 whole stops of light when diffusing a 580 EX2 Canon speedlight. So anyway, the original wasn’t anything special. Although Sharna was nothing short of beautiful, the contrast was very low and it needed a little TLC. Here it is, straight out of the camera:

As you can see, the exposure is pretty spot on, could give it a little contrast boost but no biggy. Eye is nice and sharp and I’m smiling at this point.

So we get out photoshop and start off and work some magic starting by healing the odd spots. Healing all the cracks under her eyes, the red in her cornea (right in the corner there), removing the stray eyelashes and lightening up the dark patches under the eye.

The eyes are always the fun part! As you can see the second shot the eyes have been touched up to extremes, drew in some extra highlights, accentuated the catchlights and darkened the edges of the rim to make the eyes more bold.

Secondly, I thought I would restucture a few things and make the face a little more symmetrical. I bloated one eye (the one on our left) to make the focal point dead-set obvious, very subtle change but still very significant. I plumped up the lips and restructured the nose a little bit (like I said, Sharna’s gorgeous the way she is, but in photoshop you will always find things you can always improve).

Then came the fun part – facial contouring using curves, different opacities of the burn and dodge tool as well as the patch tool. Used a series of soft light filters, gaussian blur once or twice and ta-da! The trick is to see where the light is coming from (direction) and follow the natural contours of the face ie highlights on chin, nose peak and just underneath the eyebrows.

After that, there was a tad sharpening of the eye, a glamour LR3 plugin for the skin and then finally a Dragan Preset in Lightroom 3 to finish it off.

Here’s a side by side view

Thanks for stopping by! See you at the next post!

Your fashion photographer, Ela!

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