A Hot Day in London with Zabi

Model photography

Aug 3

Zabi is a model that I had wanted to work with for some time, and eventually the opportunity arose

We met in London on a very hot day in May

Other than agreeing to shoot some fashion and portraits along the South Bank, we didn’t have any specific plans, and sometimes these kind of shoots can be very productive.

I enjoy the process of looking for interesting light and locations, and seeing what we can create …

Settings

For most of this shoot I was using the Nikon 135mm Plena lens with the aperture at f1.8
It’s a narrow depth of field, (which I love), but focus accuracy is extremely good with the Z8 and Plena lens combination, so I rarely have more than a few images that are not pin sharp from a 2 hour shoot

ISO was set to Auto
It was a bright sunny day so I never needed to worry about the ISO going too high

Shutter speed I was changing throughout the shoot, while keeping and eye on the ISO
I was working in areas with different lighting levels, so I tried to keep the ISO around 64 to 200 by adjusting the shutter speed
There was never any issue with setting the shutter speed too slow as the light was very bright, and the aperture was wide open

The Shoot

We started shooting close to the Thames

I found a spot where there was a flower bed with a few faded purple flowers, and it was all nicely in the shade

I prefer working in soft shade on sunny days, particularly as setting up a speedlight can be a hassle, as well as a red rag to some London security guards!

The light was good but I was conscious of the dark lamp posts in the background

So moving Zabi to a slightly different spot about 15 feet away, still keeping her in soft shade

The sun was behind Zabi so I had to ask her to move slightly to avoid light hitting the top of her head. The sunlight on her shoulder and left arm were acceptable although in hindsight I think positioning her to keep the left are in shadow might have been better

The darker background worked better here, and although it was quite cluttered, the wide open aperture threw everything into soft focus

Moving along the River towards Tower Bridge we stopped at a dull grey wooden fence hiding a building site

Not picturesque at all, but I was able to keep Zabi in the shade and wash out the sunlit background at the same time

Most of the background here is white due to sunlight on the walkway, but I prefer something more behind the model so it was time to move again

A few nice shots here but there are better locations nearby

Shad Thames

After Zabi changed her outfit, and a quick coffee, we moved into Shad Thames next to Tower Bridge

At this location I put Zabi in the middle of the road, (it’s pedestrianised), and asked her to slowly walk towards me while looking around

I like to try this technique occasionally as it can get away from the usual poses, and it can give a more relaxed and candid feel to the images

It doesn’t always work of course, but with Zabi, we did two walks towards the camera, and got quite a few keepers

The Nikon Z8 has no problem keeping focus on the eye as the model walked towards me

The derivation of the name ‘Shad Thames’ has two theories …
Either a corruption of the name “St John-at-Thames” (the most popular theory), or it’s named after a type of herring (the shad) which was fished and sold in the area

Curlew Street

Moving on nearby Curlew Street, I noticed the sun was peering over the top of the buildings from certain angles so I wanted to try something different

I changed the lens to the wide angle 14-30mm, I used a flash to light Zabi, and set the aperture to f16 to try to create a starburst with the sun

I didn’t quite get the look I wanted but it was worth a try and it’s something I’ll experiment more with in the future

Tooley Street

This was a very busy and noisy road but I noticed some greenery growing along a length of a wall

There were a few flowers and by shooting along the wall we could completely hide the road, the traffic, and the pedestrians

I went back to using the Plena f1.8 for these images, and once again the lens really created some gorgeous soft portraits

I added a touch of light to Zabi using a white reflector

Hay’s Galleria

Hay’s galleria was one of London's busiest Victorian shipping wharves, it was transformed during the 1980s into covered area filled with cafes, pubs, shops, and offices

By now, the sun was high in the sky creating very harsh light, and everywhere was extremely busy

However, Inside the Galleria I was able to shoot in one of the walkways on the side, where the light came through the arches and added a rim light to one side of Zabi

This location created some pleasing images to finish our day