Brad Hill Imaging

Ontario Barns.

2012-02-27T17:45:00.000+11:00

Hey,
I recently had a little trip to Canada and here is the first posting of the photos I took while I was away... enjoy! Click on the photo for a larger view.

Canadian farming is obviously a lot different than Australian. These shots were taken just before Christmas Day, it was around -10 and there had been a small drop of snow over night that freshened things up nicely. These barns are near Brockville, Ontario but similar scenes can be found accross the country.

Cheers,
Brad.

Cabinet Makers Photos

2011-10-25T13:33:00.000+11:00

Hey,

Sorry it has been 5 weeks since the last post... it is now official the Laneways and Rooftops book is at the printers and will be launched with a bit of a party at the end of November... more details to follow.

I also owe you a time-lapse from the Eureka Tower shoot... I will get to it... been a bit busy finishing the book and getting the next round of magazines shot.

In the mean time this is the type of stuff I've been up to... here is a nice kitchen, bathroom and wall-unit by Elyse Cabinets.

This is an example of what is included in a shoot for the Magazine..."Melbourne Kitchen and Bathroom Design". So if you have just booked some pages with them for the next edition and are checking me out I look forward to meeting you! Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

I remember back in the old days when so much white would have freaked me out because controlling exposure and white balance in this type of space but maintaining a natural feel is technically a bit tricky. Needless to say I have it sorted now and love shooting space with such clean lines and flowing angles.

Cheers,
Brad.

The EUREKA Shoot

2011-09-16T15:22:00.004+10:00

Hey,

The 4 hours I had on the roof of the Eureka Tower last night felt like 5 minutes. 3 Cameras, 2 Time-lapses and almost 20Gb of shooting... yes that is Gigabytes.

There was probably about 20% more cloud cover than I would have liked so the day shots were a bit flat and there wasn't much blue around BUT according to the tower management a night as calm as last night is rare up there. Apparently even the best tripods can have issues remaining rightside up most of the time so I'm not complaining.

This is going to sound obvious but it is a big building. From the top of Eureka the top of the Rialto is below the horizon... and not by a little bit. Even the office towers at the top of Collins Hill (Collins 101 etc) are well below the horizon. I could go on and on about the view/experience but I doubt anyone is reading this and are already looking at the pictures.

Firstly, a big thank-you to Will Watt who arranged access to the roof. He is a great photographer and runs the awesome blog... Melbourne Street... where he post a new photo every day of life on Melbourne Streets. I'm sure Melbourne Street will have some of his shots form last night on it soon too.

Here he is hard at work...

So here are a selection of shots from the shoot in rough chronological order and various stages of editing.... Enjoy!

The good old Miniature or Tilt Shift Effect. I have about 30 more of these to look at when I get a chance... time consuming/wasting fun!

This is the shot (or a similar version) that I went up for... it will be use in the Laneways and Rooftops book as a double pager.

Above and Below... similar angles here day and night...

That's it for now... I will definitely be putting up another post soon with the time-lapses... and if you like... maybe some more stills. Remember to 'like' my Facebook business page if you haven't already... it's good for my ego.

Thanks!

Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2011 Stage Design Time-Lapse.

2011-09-07T10:05:00.002+10:00

Hey,

I just finished this clip for 'Qualia Creative' of their stage design and a time-lapse of the installation process at the Business Series Seminar at the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2011.

Time-lapse is a great way to show off this type of work and, in a world of increasing web content possibilities, a great way of livening up a website!

Cheers,
Brad.

Time-Lapse Fun in Docklands

2011-09-02T10:58:00.000+10:00

Hey!

This week I've been playing around with time-lapse sequences or movies... here is one of my early tries and I'll be adding some more interesting ones in the future. Check it out...

This one is all about the colors on the buildings, sky and water so there are not many moving elements, which are fun in time lapse, but as an exercise there was a lot of technical lighting stuff that shooting this gave me the chance to fine tune. You can see this especially in the sky as it gets dark quickly... occasionally it looks like it flashes slightly... this is the exposure being changed in small steps and reducing this obviously something to practice.

Shooting this reinforced a theory I have had for a while... that is not until you stop in a location for a while that you actually see the details and therefore see the photo options. Most of the time when I am street shooting or going after landscapes or nature I plan a rough A to B path and look for shots between the two. This seems efficient but it is important to force yourself to stop in a seemingly boring location and take it in... you would be surprised how often, after a while, you start seeing shots you would have missed.

Shooting time lapses forces you to stop (in order to keep an eye on the camera) and I'll be making the most of the backup camera in the mean time.

Cheers,
Brad.

Self Preservation Shoot

2011-08-23T11:16:00.000+10:00

Hey!

Here are the results of the shoot I did recently for the Bar, Cafe and Jewelry/Art Gallery 'Self Preservation' on Burke St. It is a great place for a coffee and the bread and butter pudding was morishly comforting! The shoot was for the Laneways and Roof-tops Recipe book that is in the final stages of completion... I promise!

(I think I owed you a few photos... it has been a while between posts!)

Cheers!
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Bouquet of Flowers

2011-08-01T19:01:00.001+10:00

Hey,

Here is a new project... funky layered blending of multiple images, textures and colors to create an entirely new composition... in this case flowers.

I recently had an interesting discussion with Iain Sim (check out his website and blog here... www.iainsim.net especially if you need a wedding photographer) about trying new things out and I got inspired. Iain is in the middle of a much bigger more complicated project in a similar style of a "Family Tree".

This is my first shot at it which I will probably tweek slightly and I have an idea for a Melbourne city scape (maybe something for the book?)... stay tuned.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Street Photos

2011-07-14T18:38:00.000+10:00

Hey,

Well the Melbourne Laneways and Rooftops book is in its final stages and I have been running around town chasing interesting light and activity. It has been good to have a little more freedom stylistically with this book and I have pushed the envelope a little further in this regard than in the Geelong book.

Here are some examples...

Stay tuned for details of the release date!

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Melb @ 500mm

2011-07-01T15:39:00.000+10:00

Hey,

Haven't posted any Melb at 500mm series photos for a bit... here's one.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Whole new Website for Blint Builders.

2011-06-23T15:23:00.001+10:00

Hey,

Just finished I series of shoots for Blint Builders as they develop their new website and marketing strategy with the marketing company MBC. Here... www.blint.com.au ...is the finished product which I have supplied all the photos for.

You can check out MBC here... www.marketingandbranding.com.au ... Michael and Ben were awesome to work with.

And here are some of my favorites from the shoots.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Grey Day... no problem.

2011-05-27T11:39:00.000+10:00

Hey,

We're coming to the end of shoots for the Melbourne Pools and Outdoor Design Magazine and in case you haven't noticed it is winter and the weather has been terrible. I thought I would show what can be done in Photoshop to make the sun come out... so if you are a client thinking of a last minute cancellation you can see that 95% of the time grey sky's are fine.

Before & After...

I might do a post on how I do this in the future... getting the sky to look real is the trick. I think the results are as good as if the sun was really out and the sky was really blue.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Front Covers!

2011-05-23T11:57:00.000+10:00

Hey,

Who said I can't have a little brag on my blog/website? I was reading on another blog the other day that said when you work for yourself it is harder to celebrate the small achievements you make... well here is one of mine.

I currently have photos on the front cover of 2 magazines...yay me. Not a big deal, I've been printed in several others before now but for some reason never on the cover.

They are the two mags on the bottom left, the pools one is full of my photos too but that cover shot is not mine.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Um...Yum!

2011-05-05T13:31:00.000+10:00

Hey!

Just finished a shoot at Le Petit Gateau on Little Collins for the Laneways Book and here is one of the results... yum.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

My new home...

2011-04-27T19:47:00.000+10:00

Just kidding... one day though.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

The varied life of a freelancer!

2011-04-19T19:46:00.000+10:00

Hey!

I have had a massive couple of weeks which is great! I thought I would post a select sample of shots from a couple of shoots in the last 48 hours... no two days are the same... some of it may not be glamorous but I love it and to be honest if I didn't have to feed and clothe myself I would probably do it for free! (If you are a client don't get any ideas!!)

Cookie...

Guy Grossi's Grill...

Gin Palace... (the old water Martini trick)

Random Suburban Interior...

Random Suburban Exterior...

Pool Pumps...

Display Pool Covers and Roller...

... the Spice of Life.

Cheers,

Brad.

Wine Bottles

2011-04-06T16:11:00.000+10:00

Hey,

I did a post back in January about wine bottles but I have developed my range of styles a bit since and thought it was time to show you the difference.

Firstly... the final image.

You may not notice a huge difference from the January shoot but technically it is quite different.

Here is the setup...

-Camera in the foreground... zoomed to about 250mm. f10, 200th roughly.
-Speedlite with snoot on the far left... (a snoot directs a very narrow beam of light, in this case at the label. It is homemade out of that 'twin plastic board'... realestate agent 'for-sale' signs.)
-Sheet of glass as a table for the bottle.
-2nd speedlite under the bottle to light the background.
-Small black-card with white A4 paper as a reflector on the LHS of the bottle.
-Large black-card on RHS of bottle to block most of the light. (easier to see in next pic)
-Black sheet over part of the background to create a nice sharp line down the RHS of the bottle.
-100cm X 80ch softbox on the 90 degrees to the RHS.

Closer view... yes they are professionally approved salt and pepper shakers!

From this angle you can see the gap that creates the nice highlight down the RHS of the bottle.

From behind...

And it looks just as good with Red Wine.

Cheers,
Brad.

Exotic Pools

2011-04-02T13:14:00.000+11:00

Hey,

With the Wineries of Victoria Magazine finished and at the printers I'm moving onto the Pools Magazine and the Kitchens Magazine. Here are some shots of a shoot I did for Exotic Pools... I think the timing was perfect as far as the color in the trees goes.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Not my normal work...

2011-03-30T11:49:00.000+11:00

Hey,

I'm really excited to have been asked to take part in a fine art and literature book being put together by some graphic designer and publisher friends of mine... (more details when it is finalised). So I thought I would post my submission here as a sneak peak.

It is very different work than from my commercial work but photography for arts-sake is a direction I see myself heading in bit by bit down the track. You may recognise the concept in an earlier stage of development from a post in February. I have some other work and ideas to support this image in a series which I might post in the future too.

Here is the text I submitted with the image explaining my motivations and feelings behind the concept... I would love to hear any feed back you might have.

"
...it is an intentionally hyper-symbolic statement in which the viewer is (hopefully) encouraged to assign their own values to each symbol and therefore create their own overall story.

To me the table place setting composition speaks of consumerism and/or the necessities of life, the bubbles of CO2 are the hidden environmental cost of this and the heart represents both the life and death nature of the decisions associated with this and questions what is really important in life. To me this is emphasised by the subversion of the glossy commercial magazine genre by using clinical studio lighting and the pure white background on such a graphic subject. But that's just me!
"

Sorry about the watermark...(there is a good reason for it, I'll tell you about one day!)

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Laneways 2

2011-03-21T13:34:00.000+11:00

Hey!

More Laneway shots for the book... I'm enjoying the warm contrasty slightly de-saturated look in some of these, it is often the simple effects that are the most striking.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging (be sure to 'like' it)

T'Gallant Food

2011-03-16T20:52:00.001+11:00

Hey,

Still shooting wineries this week and visited T'Gallent on the Mornington Penninsular today... thanks for the lunch Rob and Anna! I had met Rob the Chef on a previous shoot at a different venue last year so it was good to shoot his food again... gotta love the flowers!

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Laneways

2011-03-03T22:11:00.003+11:00

Hey,

As you might know I am currently working on a book about restaurants and bars in Melbourne's Laneways and Rooftops with Smudge Publishing.

Here is a sneak peek of a laneway shot... taken conveniently from my front door.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Wineries

2011-02-27T17:37:00.000+11:00

Hey,

Haven't posted for too long and here is why...

I've been busy shooting for the second edition of the "Wineries of Victoria" magazine in western Victoria which has a looming deadline. I have shot around 12 wineries in 3 days over about 1500km...

Here are a couple of the 4gig of photos I have to go through that probably will make it into the magazine.

Cheers!

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Bubbles Project

2011-02-11T16:16:00.001+11:00

Hey,

Here is the beginnings of a project I've had in mind for a while... hmmm... what does it all mean?

Cheers,

Brad.

Back to... www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Basic Interior Post Processing

2011-02-07T13:01:00.000+11:00

Hey,
I often get asked by clients and vendors how I process the photos, especially when I'm showing them the results of a shoot on the back of the camera. As far as Photoshop goes what I do is fairly straight forward but I have picked up a few tricks over time...

If you don't know Photoshop bits of this wont make much sense... it isn't meant to be a tutorial, but it should give you a rough idea of what is involved in Post Processing.

Here is a photo from a shoot I did for Peter Schaad last week who is a Design and Decorating Consultant, it contains most of the steps I use when processing.

Step 1. I always shoot in RAW mainly because of the control it gives you over white balance. Most homes have a mix of tungsten, enviro, fluro and daylight in them, all of which have different colors.

I shoot multiple exposures from each angle usually with one image for the shadows (over-exposed), one image as the base image (usually meter-as-read), and one or two images for the highlights (under-exposed, usually with fill flash to light up the window sills and frame).

These are the four exposures straight out of the camera with no processing. Obviously it is important that the tripod/camera doesn't move at all between each shot and this includes focus not changing.

Notice how the exposures are different, meaning different parts of the images are lit optimally in each.

In this one Peter and I agreed the back wall needed something to give the room depth, there was a painting but no hook, so I got Peter to hold it in the right place and later will place this onto the final image.

So Step 1. is processing these RAW images into jpegs or psds.

You will notice slight tonal and white-balance adjustments between the above 4 images and these 4. I am thinking about what zones of each image will make it into the final image and making sure these zones will match each other.

For example, Step 2 will be blending these first two images. Notice how the top and RHS of this one is a bit red and over-exposed?

Where-as in this one the floor and bottom of the tapestry of this one is a bit blue and under-exposed but the top of the tapestry/ light fitting/ ceiling look good.

Similarly, this one will be used for the window and sills/ frame and even slightly for the floor and RHS wall to add a bit of contrast, (by slightly I mean by adjusting the opacity of that layer so it is slightly "see though".)

Here I have tried to match the wall in image one where this painting will be over-layed.

Step 2. This is image 1 and 2 blended together.

Step 3. This is the above image with the window "zone" dropped in. Because I'm a bit of a drongo sometimes I forgot to include the bit that is in the reflection of the mirror... duh.

Step 4. Here I have dropped in the painting. Selecting around a painting like this is fairly easy, but it is important to include in the selection the drop shadows the frame puts on the wall... with out doing this it looks obviously photoshoopped. This would have been much trickier if the plant on the table had been much bigger because I would have had to select around it too... in this case I just asked Peter to hold it a bit higher up the wall. After placing it there I just had to clone over where his fingers were on the frame.

Step 5. By now I have realized that the window in the mirror needs fixing... again duh... but that wall also needed tweaking so I grabbed a layer from the window exposure again and got it looking better.

Final Image. Here I dropped in the floor from the window exposure again to get rid of the overexposed and blue floor under the window... which meant selecting around the chair legs... usually I try to avoid that but sometimes it is unavoidable when shooting at daytime. I have also tweaked the levels and dodged and burned mainly on the tapestry just to fine tune.

And that is how I do a fairly standard interior... this is just one way of about a million but I hope it gives you an idea of what is done in post production.

Cheers,
Brad.

Blatant Sledging!

2011-02-03T16:32:00.000+11:00

Hey,

Been too busy so far this week to add any original content but... here is a pic a friend sent me today... real life screenshot and on realestate.com right now.

Yes, that is a person, presumably, asleep on the couch... for fun I enlarged it.

Is that how you present something that is worth $600k? What does it say about the agent, property and vendor?

I know I have made my point, and I know it is a cheap shot but just for comparison here is one of mine with a similar setting... please note the lack of, presumably, sleeping people.

Cheers,
Brad.

"1806" Bar Shoot

2011-01-25T16:26:00.000+11:00

Hey,

I'm being quite post happy this week, but I thought I hadn't put up any clients photos yet and have just finished a couple of shots from 1806 Bar on Exhibition St for the "Laneways and Rooftops" book... it was easy shooting such a classy venue... go down and say hello to Merlin for a good cocktail and laugh.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

More Melb@500

2011-01-24T15:37:00.000+11:00

Hey!

Here is installment 3 of Melb@500mm... enjoy!

www.bradhillimaging.com.au
www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging

Fruit Exploding From Water

2011-01-21T12:52:00.001+11:00

Hey,

My project de-jour this time is trying to copy a image I saw online...where it looks like a piece of fruit is punching or exploding out of water. I've seen it in ads for flavoured water etc. As an exercise it ended up being learning about flash sync speed and ninja like timing.

Anyway this is one of the better results...

Here is how I did it...

The set up is fairly straight forward... macro lens, white back-drop, back-drop light, big vase, front light, water and fruit. I moved the front light all over the place trying to avoid shadows on the fruit and reflections on the glass. In this photo it is up high but better results came from putting it almost directly under the lens. In a perfect world another speed light in front would have been good to play with.

Because I have only just started playing with proper studio lights the first thing I learnt is that they have limited functionality if you're shooting fast moving things unless you have special power packs. This is what happens if your lights aren't quick enough... the fruit is blurry because it is moving.

So I switched to my speed lights and this froze the action but clearly I had a bit of work to do to get the exposure right.

Also I needed to fine tune the focus.

This got it about right so it was time to cut up the fruit.

Lesson two was ninja like timing... since sadly I am not a ninja I had to settle on taking about 100 photos to get one or two with the fruit in the right place and an attractive splash. There were a lot that ended up looking like this.

Finally, I got enough that looked ok and here is the un-photoshopped result of the above final image.

As you have guessed rotating the image 180 degrees makes it look like the fruit is coming out of the water not going in and after removing the background and tweeking contrast and saturation I had a result.

Here are some others that turned out ok too.

This one is probably my favorite mainly due to the closer crop and twist in the water splash.

That is it for this post... it is of some coincidence that one of my clients is 'Fruit Property'... is there an ad campaign in this Jon?

Cheers,
Brad.

After all this wine I need a beer.

2011-01-14T17:47:00.002+11:00

Hey,

I've been practising shooting wine bottles today... probably the most exacting product you can do. Most of the day... only 8 photos and two styles! But it is all about perfecting and replicating the different styles in the future.

Style 1. Bottle Side lit and label front lit with the front light highlights on the glass removed in photoshop and minimal perspective distortion.

Style 2. Front and back lit at 45 degrees with a reflector filling the label and a bit of perspective distortion for 'animation'.

This is the setup for Style 2... (I occasionally convert my studio into a loungeroom).

I know... boring post... but I'm gaging for a beer.

Cheers,
Brad.

More Melb@500

2011-01-07T15:41:00.001+11:00

Hey!

I am always sceptical of abstract photos by people who have not spent years studying... it is too easy to take a really crap photo and call it abstract. That said here I go... in two groups of two images a here is my attempt.

Not totally abstracted but these two (in my mind anyway) are using hard lines, negative space and simple composition tricks to suck the eye around the image.

Gotta love reflections in windows... these are two of about 40 I took in QV where the low sun was bouncing funky light around a narrow glassy laneway. I started by getting at least one of the figures sharp but then thought that part of the photo dominated the frame too much. From then it became an exercise in composition and color, I also thought the highlights around silhouettes started to add interesting shapes in their own right when short focused like this.

As mentioned in the last post, I would love to have company of others with their cameras (point and shoot, SLR or large format) while randomly hunting light in the city, just let me know.

Feel free to comment... all feedback is good.

I have also almost finished my Facebook business page on which you might be reading this... make sure you "like" it...!

Thanks!
Brad.

First Post... Laneways and Rooftops and Melb at 500.

2010-12-29T16:24:00.003+11:00

Welcome to my first blog post. I solemnly swear to post a photo a week which was taken that week either for a client or some form of project or random idea that I am flirting with at that time.

Being the first post I would also like to ask if anyone has any connections to Bars, Restaurants or Cafes in Melbourne that are on Laneways or Rooftops they may be interested in knowing about a recipe/travel book I am currently shooting for... let me know if you would like more info. It's called Melbourne's Laneways and Rooftops.

Photo of the week... since I have the Christmas week off catching up on the things you don't have the stamina for through out the year... ie, update website (tick), start blog (tick), do gst (tomorrow I promise)... this weeks photo is the first in a side project I have started called Melbourne at 500mm.

This came from the idea that because I am always shooting interiors of restaurants and homes or landscapey architectural exteriors I am always shooting wider than 50mm focal length. This project will force me to think longer focal lengths... 500mm minimum... it is a different game, with different rules and needs a different eye. If you would like to join me with your camera while honing said eye and wandering the streets, carpark roofs or riverbanks let me know.

The idea (and the idea to actually play around with a blog for my own sake if nothing else) also partially comes from Will Watt and his awesome blog Melbourne Street where he shoots a photo a day that captures the life of Melbourne.

Cheers,
Brad.