Andriy Zolotoiy Photography Blog

Two weeks ago during the location photoshoot my Vagabond II started acting up, making long beeps and taking its time to re-charge the strobes. Luckily it was almost the end of the shoot when this happened and we didn’t get annoyed as much during 20 seconds interval between taking the shot.

After I came back home I re-charged battery, set camera to auto-interval shooting and fired it off. About 150 shots in the same behaviour repeated itself.

The battery is either died of age or misuse. The sticker on it shows 2008 and I always kept it plugged in a power outlet but what was different during that last shoot is that I’ve put VB II into my roller case and then dragged it for about 500 meters by gravel road. It was shaky, my hand actually hurt after dragging it. It might be coincidence but might be the cause for battery’s sudden death.

Finding a replacement for one of these babies is not that easy around Toronto. And if you mention that you would use it to power photographic lights you would get big eyes from most of sales people. But your local auto shop might be dealer of Interstate Batteries and you just might be able to get SLA1116 through them.

To finish it up, here are few images from that photoshoot that almost ended badly. I used here Einstein strobe with 8.5” reflector and 1/2 CTO gel, white balance set to Daylight. The rest is just balance of ambient and flash.

Model: Megan Barber
Makeup/hair: Nicole Ostonal

More on flickr

Fashion photography is mostly associated with large setups – lots of lighting gear, power packs, assistants running around, etc. While, if theme allows, it is possible to create good fashion photos with just a camera, nothing else. Your setup time will be close to zero and you’ll be shooting very fast. Important part of such shoot is to choose location properly. Soft light in the shade is probably the easiest to work with.

Camera settings. Set white balance to either Cloudy or Shade depending on the mood you want to achieve and ambient light temperature. Note that Shade setting will produce warmer images. Set camera into Aperture Priority mode, Spot metering and choose single focusing point. Setting camera this way will allow you to base your exposure on face skin tone of your model, though you might need to correct it with Exposure Compensation dial depending on the desired mood. Always put your focus point on model’s face, eye preferably. Set aperture for your liking, I prefer to have it open wide to blur the background.

Following images were shot with Nikon D700, 50/1.8 lens at f/2.8. Shutter speed was chosen by the camera depending on available light.

Great time shooting at Guildwood Inn with bunch of talented creative people. I used a mix of natural and small strobe light to get the feel I wanted to. This set was the first one I did almost completely in Lightroom, only skin retouching was done in Photoshop at the end.

See complete set here.

Back in February I photographed Face The Future charity event. Hosted by plastic surgeon Dr. Adamson, the purpose of this event is to raise money for medical humanitarian missions.

I do get lost while driving and I still don’t have GPS, go figure. Here are few shots from one of those days when I forgot where I parked my car.

Took my family on the weekend to attend King Tut’s exhibition at AGO. That was a nightmare. It costs too much, too many people stuffed inside small space to feel comfy and you cannot photograph the items. Nightmare! At least Anubis was accessible.

As I dabble more into food photography I discover new ways to shoot the food. In many ways food photography is similar to fashion photography. Styling, lighting, location, props – all same things just applied differently. Every photographer is using preferred photographic techniques to achieve desired results.

One school I got familiar with suggests using large light sources to completely eliminate the shadows. I tried this method but frankly I consider the results quite lifeless. The image made this lack character in my opinion but I guess this is personal point of view. Here is illustration of such method:

While every single detail can be seen there, the photo just looks plain flat to me.

Another school deals with smaller light sources. Small is relative meaning – sun is large but photographers consider it small. So if you take window light for example it is pretty big but place your plate of food away from it and you’re getting quite directional light.

Here we see light and shadows which is much closer to my liking.

If you want to show the texture of the food you have to use smaller light and set it pretty low comparing to plate plane so light brushes over the surface of the food.

Whether to use natural or artificial light I guess is just personal choice and availability of either one. Hard light coming through a window and reflected by bounce card can create some dramatic shots. They are might not be used for packaging but might work for editorial or advertisement.

I love to snap small 50mm on my camera and shoot while driving. The trick is not look into viewfinder, shoot from the hip so to say. Photography can be dangerous.

It was cold and my fingers froze within 5 minutes of walking. But air was crisp and light was amazing. Certainly the best time for photography.

Here are some BTS shots from a fashion shoot with beautiful model Ada taken place at Guild Inn in Scarborough.

And this is what came out of it: