Shoot in inspiration from Nick Pumphrey

Shoot plan-

In this first shoot I am focusing on capturing a slow shutter surf photos which captures the movement and style of the surfer in inspiration from Nick Pumphrey's work. I decided to shoot in inspiration from Nick because of his inspiring use of complementary colours and unique compositions. For this shoot I aim to capture an image which captures the unique speed and style of the surfer and wave. The techniques I am going to use are slow shutter speed which I have worked on in my other shoots and they have all came out really effectively. I find it a very successful technique as it makes an image more interesting by capturing movement. I would like the shoot to portray images which have a really pleasing colour scheme (bright blues and whites) as this will work well with the other images aesthetically. This links to previous projects I have created which focused on surf photography when shooting in inspiration from Woody Gooch and Hiroshi using long exposure. I want to experiment with different compositions and angles in this shoot. My canon 7d will be best for this shoot to create high resolution and quality images. I will experiment with using a tripod to steady the camera to capture the perfect slow shutter image but I haven't used a tripod before so it would be interesting to try it out. For this shoot I will be at the beach for a few hours, as it will take a while to get the perfect shot. My equipment list: camera, tripod, SD card and battery. I will not be using models/ assistant as I will be shooting anyone in the water- hopefully some of the local surfers (as it would link with article). Good weather is important for lighting so in the best case sunshine will line up with good swell, but that's quite rare so I will use the conditions I get in the timespan I have to complete these shoot. I have chosen to shoot at Sennen which is one of Cornwalls best surf spots and also has insanely blue water which will be good for my shoot and explore colour. 

Thumbnail sketches-

Contact sheet-

Editing-

For this shoot I edited using Lightroom, I did not need to edit much as the natural lighting was perfect in this shoot. First I slightly edited the brightness and contrast to make the dark and light areas stand out. Then I increased the saturation of the orange board as the orange complements the blue hues of the sea. I am really pleased with how these images have turned out, the composition and lighting has worked out perfectly. I am ver pleased with the composition with these images but I wanted them to be closer so I cropped them so that you could see the blur closer in more detail. 

Settings used- ISO 125, 300mm zoom, F/16, 1/50 seconds

Final images-

Evaluation-

Overall this shoot turned out really effectively, the starting points was to capture images exploring complementary colours in inspiration from Nick Pumphrey. I definitely managed to get complementary colours from the intense blue of the sea and bright orange surf board- the contrast of colours colorant of turned out Better. I wanted to capture an image that illustrated Cornwalls Beauty, so I shot one of Cornwalls best surfers Mike Lay.  Who has old school style and demonstrates Cornwalls local talent very effectively. Throughout this shoot I learnt how to match the surfers speed when panning the camera, which is a key technique in creating perfect slow shutter photos. There are many throw away photos when using slow shutter speed as its really hard to get the perfect blur while the subject is in focus. I really enjoyed this shoot as the photos which came out of it are some of my favourites. The editing techniques I used worked really effectively as they really enhanced the photo and made the overall outcome look even better, I am also really happy with how the speed blur came out as it captured the moment really effectively. The colour scheme is just right as it matches the colour pallet I aimed to create, therefore I am really pleased with how this shoot has turned out. In this shoot I didn't use a tripod however I would like to use on in my future shoots. This is because it would make more of the shots good so there would be less throw away photos. A tripod would work really effectively as it would steady the camera so the movement is super smooth which would come across really nicely in the slow shutter. If I did this shoot again I would try to steady the camera more so I can get more good outcomes rather than just a few photos so I have a bank to chose from.

Favourite final image-

This is my favourite final image because it captures the speed and motion of the surfer perfectly as they throw their body forward into the sharp turn. It capture the spray flying off the back of the wave and the4 bright reflections from the board really well. The complementary colour captured from the bright blue sea and electric orange surfboard contrast really effectively and bring the image all together. Using the speed blur has blurred the surroundings of the surfer but focused them in the middle of the photo which looks very good. This is one of my favourite images so far from all my shoots due to the compositions, lighting and intense colour. This image has also a very strong atmosphere and lots of energy captured.