Studio – Page 9 – Richie.ie

February 25, 2012July 12, 2018

Kelly Donegan Tallafornia

If you stay in on a Friday night to chill out and watch a bit of TV, then chances are you will know of Kelly Donegan. She is one of the starts of the TV3 reality show, Tallafornia. It is a show that follows the lives of 7 people who are from (around) the Tallaght area in South-West Dublin.

If you never heard of the show, then you may know her from other work she has done with Assets Model Agency, who she is currently signed with. You may also have seen herself and Hazel O’Sullivan appearing on various UK Darts competitions on Sky Sports as work on girls. That job in the UK has boosted their popularity in the UK immensely.

Kelly came down to my studio a few weeks ago to get some new shots for her portfolio. We also shot with the aim of getting ia spread the papers, which it did. We were looking for sexy yet edgy shots, and I think we achieved that quite well. The shot on the right is one of my favorites from the shoot. It’s a simple shot in terms of set up and lighting, but it turned out great. Note IKEA’s finest rug that came in handy. It is a great place to stock up on props.

Another favourite shot from the day is this one above.

Kelly did her own hair and make-up for the shoot, which was very handy. It’s a bonus when not only is the model able to do her own hair and make-up, but able to do it well as well. We also styled it our selves in my usual way.

As usual, its was a great days shooting. It was fantastic working with Kelly and is a genuine and nice girl. The way that they edit these TV shows can be very mis-leading some times. Obviously the producers need to create a show that will contain controversy and drama etc, but when you are watching these shows, you need to remember about the editing and you might not always be watching things in context.

February 18, 2012July 12, 2018

Niamh Cullen – Miss Sunday World 2011

Niamh Cullen is the current Miss Sunday World – 2011. Niamh won, following in the foot steps of Rachel Wallace and entering in the Miss Ireland Competition. Niamh came down to my studio recently with fellow Miss Ireland contestant, Aishling Alcock for some fun for the day and to get some new shots.

The wonderful, the beautiful, the talented Julie Caulfield was on Hair and Make-up duties for the day and she done a great job as usual. We styled it ourselves from various inspirational images combined with what ever cloths the girls brought down. The main aim for Niamh was to get some fun, sexy shots that were to be published in the Sunday World Newspaper.

Niamh felt that her image to date have been too cute, so her main aim from this shoot was to get some sexier images and to show another side to her. I think that we definitely achieved that. The shot to the right alone is a super sexy shot. This was actually the very last shot of this look, and Niamh nailed it.

The Shots that were actually used are shown below, they are the colourful, cutesy & sexy shots. Although the shot on the right is my favourite, it is unlikely to have ever been printed in the paper as the mostly want colour shots. I did supply this shot in colour, but the black and white just have that bit more impact and mode to it.

Niamh is a great, bubble girl as we had a great shoot. Her reign of Miss Sunday World is nearly over and the search is on for her successor. Do you have what it takes?

Follow the team on twitter:

(Me) @RichieButtle
JulieCaulfield
NiamhCullen

January 24, 2012July 12, 2018

Alyson Boyle in White

Alyson Boyle is slowly becoming a regular in front of my camera. This is the 3rd time that we have shot together now and each shoot gets better and better. She was one of my first subjects when I was just starting out on my own, nearly two years ago. Alyson has come along way in her modelling career since our first shoot. She is one of the busiest models with Assets Agency and you would have seen her on TV several times. Check out Alyson’s Assets Page Here.

Alyson is fantastic to work, and this time was no exception. She came down to my studio with fellow Assets girl Nicola. The rest of the style team on the day were Danilo Taveres on Hair, Ann-Jean Fitzsimons on Make-up and Gill Keogh on styling. Check those talented guys out.

Follow the Tweeps
http://twitter.com/NicolaMHughes
http://twitter.com/AlysonBoyle
http://twitter.com/AJ_makeup/
http://twitter.com/gillkeoghstyle/
http://twitter.com/RichieButtle/

We did not have a whole lot of time on the day for the shoot, so we managed to get two looks in. I had this ideas for the first one after seeing various high key lighting / bright shots. One shot in particular was of Rihanna, shot by Michael Thompson. The shot is shown and lighting broken down here by Guess the Lighting.com. Obviously it’s not really near that effect, but it was a starting point for the experimenting. For a first attempt, I’m happy with the results. I will definitely be trying this out again with some changes, one of those being would perhaps be with a brunette model.

It’s good to be able to try something different like this. It’s great to be able to have the studio space in which to do it. If the experimenting works, then is a look that I have in the bad if I ever need it. If it doesn’t work, well then it means that I know where to start from when trying it again. I will be posting up a Lighting Setup Shot of this look soon.

The other look that we shoot that day with Alyson was this shot below with Danilo. We wanted to shoot an uber sexy shot of a couple, with a nod to Calvin Kline. It’s a simple shot, style and lighting wise. What makes a shot like this is the models and their expressions. Out of about 20 shots, this one was the winner for me because the expression of Alyson & Danilo’s faces are fantastic. Look into their eyes and try to imagine what they were thinking in that scene.

As usual, any comments or questions on my shoot, post them below here. Follow me on twitter @richiebuttle and check out my FaceBook page and “Like” it.

January 20, 2012July 12, 2018

Nicola Hughes – Miss Irish Sun 2012

September 2013 – CLick for Nicola’s NEW Shoot: https://www.richie.ie/shoots/nicola-hughes-press-shoot/

* April 2012 Edit *

April 2012, Nicola has just won the title of Miss Irish Sun 2012. Congrats Nicola on the new title! Nicola will head onto Miss Universe Ireland later in the year now – See HERE

Nicola Hughes is busy model with ~~Assets Model Agency~~, Andrea Roche Agency, whom I have the pleasure of shooting with recently. She has been modeling for a while now and is doing great for her self. She is great to work with and has fantastic skin, which makes the MUA’s & my job easier…… which we like.

I organised a test shoot just before Christmas with Nicola & Alyson. We wanted to get some Christmas themes shots as well as trying out some new looks for our portfolios. It was a short day, but we managed to squeeze in some varied look in the two hours shooting with the two girls. Here are are some of the best shots of Nicola from the day. I look forward to working with her again.

The style team on the day were Danilo Taveres on Hair, Ann-Jean Fitzsimons on Make-up and Gill Keogh on styling. Check those talented guys out.

Follow the Tweeps

http://twitter.com/NicolaMHughes
http://twitter.com/AlysonBoyle
http://twitter.com/AJ_makeup/
http://twitter.com/gillkeoghstyle/
http://twitter.com/RichieButtle/

January 20, 2012July 21, 2018

Danilo in Studio

Danilo Taveres is one talented guy. He is the latest male model to grace my studio. Danilo is a full time hair-stylist based in Dublin and also is a make-up artist. Brazilian born and bred, he has many strings to his bow… and a nice guy also. I have worked with Danilo a few times now, in both a model capacity and hair and make-up artistry roles.

This time, Danilo came down to do the hair for the Alyson White & Nicola Hughes shoots. At the end of the Shoot, Danilo wanted a few quick shots for his own portfolio, so we took these in literally 3 mins.

I am in the process of trying out various mono & black and white techniques. These two shots of Danilo on his own have brown tint running through them, sort of sepia-ish. Where as the shot of him any Alyson is just black and white. Different looks suite different images naturally, but it would be nice to be able to develop a style that suits all images and to be able to apply the same look to them all. Purely from a consistency point of view.

Lighting wise for these shots of Danilo, there is just one light involved. A big beautiful Elinchrom 135cm Octo box, placed just off to the left. It really is a great light source, giving nice big soft shadows.

As usual, any questions or comment, feel free to leave them below.

January 8, 2012July 12, 2018

Faye Rooney – Miss Wright Venue 2011

Following on from an earlier post with Lisa Nolan, Faye Rooney was the other model member of the team for the day. Faye is currently signed with Assets Model Agency and has had a great year. She is the current Miss Wright Venue and represented the Nightclub in the 2011 Miss Ireland contest. She also had lots of other strings to her bow.

Faye looks fantastic here in this lingerie. As we were chatting during the shoot, she mentioned how she done some Irish dancing back in her day. Her dancing background could be a factor to her great shape. It is always easy photographing any one with some dancing background. They are natural posers ans usually have great shape and form.

To recap on the team. Faye & Lisa were the models. The talented Amy McGuire was also with us for the day as our make-up artist. Amy runs PeekaBoo Make-up Artistry, which is based in Riverchapel, Co. Wexford. Check out her FaceBook Page. Finally, the ladies were styled by Nicole Spain of Flutterby Fashion Styling. unfortunately Nicole could not make it down for the shoot, but she sent the girls down fully loaded and ready to go 🙂

The team on twitter:
Faye: http://twitter.com/FayeRooney/
Lisa: http://twitter.com/Miss_Lisa_Nolan/
Amy: http://twitter.com/AmyMcGuireMUA/
Nicole: http://twitter.com/flutterbystylex/

For the strobist out there. all the images were shot with a combination of Elinchrom D4 lights with 135cm Octa, 70cm Deep Octa and standard 60cm softboxes.

*Edit* – See my second shoot with Faye Here

January 6, 2012July 12, 2018

Lisa Nolan in Studio

July 2010 was the first time I met Lisa and worked with her for the first time. Back then, she was one of the first models that I shot with. See those shots here . She was with BScene the agency back then. But Bscene have moved away from model management now and Lisa is now signed with Assets Model Agency and is doing great for her self.

We had a great team on the day. Lisa came down to my studio with fellow Assets girl Faye Rooney who was getting shots done also (next post) . The talented Amy McGuire was also with us for the day as our make-up artist. Amy runs PeekaBoo Make-up Artistry, which is based in Riverchapel, Co. Wexford. Check out her FaceBook Page. Finally, the ladies were stylied by Nicole Spain of Flutterby Fashion Styling. Unfortunatly Nicole could not make it down for the shoot, but she sent the girls down fully loaded and ready to go 🙂

The team on twitter:
Lisa: http://twitter.com/Miss_Lisa_Nolan/
Faye: http://twitter.com/FayeRooney/
Amy: http://twitter.com/AmyMcGuireMUA/
Nicole: http://twitter.com/flutterbystylex/

As usual, it was another fun day’s shooting. Both girls wanted some new shots for their books along with some shots of them together that we hoped would get published. Lisa and Faye are great craic together. They are good friends and do work together a lot. They are so much craic together infact that, near the end of the shoot, it was tough trying to get the last few shots due to the out break of uncontrollable laughter syndrome 🙂

As usual, any questions, chime in below or on twitter @richiebuttle

November 23, 2011July 12, 2018

Kate McDaid in Studio

Kate paid me a visit recently to check out the progress of my new studio and also for a quick test shoot. Its great working with Kate and it was a pleasure working with her again. This is the second time shooting with Kate, who is the current Miss Irish Sun and is signed with Andrea Roche Model Agency. You can read about our first shoot together that was also published in the Irish Sun HERE.

Kate brought along her friend Aimee Connolly, who is a talented Make-Up artist down for the trip and to look after the make-up for the day. Aimee done a great job in creating the look that we were after, which was a natural feeling. Check out her FaceBook page in the link above.

The aim for this shoot was to get some nice simple, natural looks. Styling was kept minimal, make up was toned down and the lighting was not too fancy or dramatic (while trying out some new things). The ultimate aim being to put the emphasise on the model, Kate in this case. As Matthew Jordan Smith says, Kate’s natural beauty is the hero of the shoot, not the cloths or the make-up.

The shot on the right is my favourite from the day. I am happy once I get one great shoot from every shoot, thats what I aim for. if I get more than that, then its a bonus. I like this shot because it’s all about the expression in Kate’s face. The expression, the moment is key. As I grow and develop my photography, I realise more that although you need to know the technical aspects of photography, you also needs to know what actually makes a good image. You could have the best lighting in the world, but if the model does not work well for you, then the image will suffer. Conversely, you may know nothing about lighting but you may take great photos of people because you can capture them at their best.

We had a pre-shoot meeting a few days before the shoot to go over ideas and to put together a shoot plan. We had a rough idea as to the looks that we wanted. Inspiration for this shoot came heavily from the work of Gilles-Marie Zimmerman and his Simply | Project. Being able to create such great images while giving the impression that the work & effort was minimal is fascinating.

Although we had inspiration, the aim was never to copy another photographers work intentionally. The idea is to use others work as a canvas and then make it your own, put your spin on it etc. It is healthy from an educational point of view to try to copy other people’s work, in order to learn new things. You don’t necessarily have to show this “copied work” to anybody. Once you know how you created the look using the lights a certain way etc, you can then go onto creating your own images using those techniques while putting your own twist on it.

The next shot is another favourite of mine from the shoot. Again, it’s all nice and simple, but for me its the expression that make the shot.

Thats all now for now. The studio is coming along nicely. Once its all done I will post up about it and give details on its availability for renting etc.

October 18, 2011July 12, 2018

Rachel Wallace – Miss Sunday World 2010

Rachel Wallace is the 2010 Miss Sunday World. Rachel came down to my studio with her friend Hazel for some fun and a shoot. It was a fun-filled few hours that resulted in some great shots that got published in the Sunday World (Oct 9th). See the tear sheet here. Along with being a former Miss Sunday World, Rachel is also signed with Assets Model Agency. She is a great model and fun to work with. The girl can pull more looks in 20 seconds than most. That skill / confidence level help making the short video so easy. The styling was provided by Carmel Daly. Unfortunately she was not able to make it down on the day of the shoot, she sent Rachel down very organised with plenty of out fits for the shoot.

** Edit ** See our Second Shoot here https://www.richie.ie/2012/03/rachel-wallace-the-hotel-room-shoot/

Earlier images from this shoot which showed a Rachel smoking caused a little debate. Being honest, I knew it would and that is why the pictures were posted. I thought it was better to have people talking about your work over something such as smoking, rather than it not being noticed at all. You can see the post in question HERE.

This was the second shoot in my new studio and I am still very much in the testing phase. I am not ready to do up a full-blown post on the new studio just yet. I need to get to grips with it more, learn all its faults and failings before I can give a comprehensive write-up on it.

The first shoot in the new studio was with Lydia a short while ago. Shooting in the studio has been interesting so far. It is just as much of a challenge as shooting on location. When you are on location, you have an extra element to use for your composition…. be it a building, a beach etc. The location becomes part of the subject. Adding a model into the frame then should then be complemented by the location and vise versa. Being on a location means that you are there to shoot it as you see it (usually) and you are not going to be chopping and changing anything majorly around. The main thing that you would usually be controlling if your lighting, and its the lighting that sets the look of the shot.

Shooting on location results in unique results each time. This is why my body of work has been so diverse to date. Shooting in the studio will mean consistency and this will change the flow of my portfolio from its current state. The current state being one of loads of unique shots, and that being changed (maybe) to one of many similar style shots. This ultimately is not a bad thing, it just depends on the how you want your portfolio to look. Being able to create a different looking set of images in the same space with the same equipment seems daunting. Is it necessary?

I will do up a more detailed post on studio shooting once my is fully finished.

I decided to play around with the video function of the Canon 1D mkIV during the shoot also. No point in paying all that cash for a piece of equipment if you don’t at least try to get the full use out of it right. Rachel was a great model to try it out with, that goes back to her fun personality and her skill in being able to change pose so well.