I recently shot a set of headshots and portraits for David Campbell, one of England’s top clarinetists who lives and teaches in London. I shot a variety of different looks with and without his clarinet for use in magazines articles, profiles and concert programs. This was my favourite shot from the shoot, taken with the Canon 50mm F/1.4 and 2 Elinchrom studio heads at F/1.4 only using the modelling bulbs of the flashes.

I find it’s always a good idea to work with a concept when taking on a fashion shoot. This test shoot was to the theme of ‘Rock Chic’.

The shoot was all done in my studio near Oxford with one or two studio strobe mono blocks, depending on the shot (Elinchrom 250 and 500 head). Most of the shots were with just one Elinchrom 500 head with a shoot through umbrella, some shots used a soft box too. The great thing about a shoot though umbrella is that it is very portable, though it didn’t really matter in this instance it just creates a nice light.

This shot was taken at F/6.3, 1/100 second, 55mm at ISO 100. This create just enough depth of field that all of the face is in focus but the hair starts to go out of focus.

I wanted to create a really graphic image and the black cables against the white background achieve this.

A little look at the behind the scenes setup, note the fan heater essential to keep the model happy! I fire the strobe heads with Elinchrom Skyports radio triggers, this reduces the number of cables to trip over around the studio and allows me to move around the studio freely.

We had a lot of fun smashing up an old record, again the contrast of the stark black against the white background works to create an effective high contrast image.

I have included several more shots in the gallery below, please click on a thumbnail to view them larger. Some of these photos can be seen on the D1 Models website. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below