Shoot my self like "terry"

I realized that it was time for a new self-portrait. So i decided to shoot a photo of my self (not through a mirror). 
Next to me Linhof 5x4. Great piece of camera. 

Shot by Nikon D800 + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Young and Vibrant (Behind the Camera)

Lately I realised that I havent post any behind the camera material in the blog.

Its time to fix that. 

As I mentioned the shoot went well. It was good timed and well planned shoot, no stress at all. 

Hollie fine-tuning the makeup. I don't know why she isn't using the gigantic makeup table in the Studyo, my best guess is, perhaps it is because it is a little tuning of the makeup. Tereza is all patient, if I was a model I'd be laughing during the makeup time also I wonder if those brushes will tickle me. 

Anna-Karin is all happy eye closed and soooo photogenic watching the shoot. 

Shoot me like "Terry" - 7.1

Terry 2.0

Little Change is coming to Terry section of the blog. 

Recently, I was given a nice new tool to help me edit the photographs and manipulate the colours easier than the tools I used in photoshop. So I will experiment with the old terry photos and see how I can change the photographs. 

I liked this new little program and no I'll not share it much, so my secrets will remen my secret.

Camera: Nikon D800 + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) me
Stylist: Anna-Karin Wikstrand
Hair & Makeup: Hollie Lewis
Nail Technician: Mercedes Mires
Model: Tereza S. @Milk Management

Fashion Photography - Young & Vibrant

Here is one of the Photograph I liked from the young and vibrant shoot.

I think We did this well.
The entire team and I are impressed with the models performance, and everyone was happy with the outcome.
Especially I am very happy with this photo because I like the navy blue. "There's only one secret item that can uplift man's charisma and dominate the whole outfit : it's defiantly a navy shirt. [...] Navy shirts according to me, should be matched with white or bright colour items so that you can carry off the flash impact" (Yasin S. T.) However in this case and in this photo shoot a women is wearing it, the impact is quite similar, not fully similar but again quite similar.

Camera: Nikon D800 + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) me
Stylist: Anna-Karin Wikstrand
Hair & Makeup: Hollie Lewis
Nail Technician: Mercedes Mires
Model: Tereza S. @Milk Management

Stay tuned for behind the camera and my next shoot post will be soon.
I'll be working with a surprise stylist. ;)

Bibliography

Yasin S. T

navy shirt : always right

S. T., Yasin. (2013) navy shirt : always right. OttomanDandy, [blog] 3 march 2013, Available at: http://ottomandandy.com/2013/03/03/navy-shirt-always-right/ [Accessed: 14th april 2013].

Fashion Blogging . . . Escapism, Peacocking

 When we set out to make this short, our intention simply was to observe the phenomenon of fashion bloggers and street style stars. As we started to review the footage, two salient trends became apparent: fashion editors frustrated by the ensuing commotion outside of shows, and the rise of "peacocking" street style stars as a result of the proliferation of blogs. This film examines these themes from both perspectives.

MōVI BTS

Mind blowing. 
After I've watched this I was amazed.

Also if you watch carefully you can spot a GoPro camera mounted on top of the Camera/Transformer looking machine in the video. I guess there is a little GoPro in every production.

Hasselbald H5D

Even though I'd choose PhaseOne over Hasse they made a tasty looking camera.
More about the Campaign video, this is a awesome way of demonstrating the the camera. Usually they make the camera and shoot a Campaign video where they show retouched images on screen or in the video but in here they are demonstrating minimal amount of postproduction.

So if you have a Hasse, you  can shoot a landscape or interior and have a huge print of it, then use the print as a backdrop in another photo. :) Clever . . .

Shoot me like "Terry" - 7

Young & Vibrant 

Here is lovely Tereza right after we finished the Young and Vibrant shoot, it was fun and relaxed shoot we even finished 30min before scheduled time. 

As usual, right after the shoot I put my "Terry Flash" and asked her to pose for me in a way she feels like. No art-direction is required when you ask energetic person like her to be herself infront of the camera.

Stay tuned I'll post some of the photos from the shoot soon. 

Camera: Nikon D800 + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) me
Stylist: Anna-Karin Wikstrand
Hair & Makeup: Hollie Lewis
Nail Technician: Mercedes Mires
Model: Tereza S. @Milk Management

The reason Why I don't use & Recommend Flickr.

This Video shows, a photographer finding her work copied from internet and as a print in T-shirt. However this is just one photographer finding out that her work is used commercially without her permission. The number of photos copied of the internet without the photographers permission is remarkably high but the number of photographers finding their work being copied and ised without their permissions is incredibly low. 

Of course the Flickr didn't have anything to do with this photograph being used without the permission of the photographer, however it acts as a vast cyber space where browsing and downloading high resolution photographs are made easy. 

Mamiya Vs Nikon

Mamiya RZ67 ProII vs Nikon D3X 

Almost a month ago I  did a shoot with Laura Kate Rzemieniecka where I could take enough time to use two different formats of camera and media. 

If you ask me, I like negative film and I love shooting with my Mamiya. 

However the digital era we are living in now requires fast workflow not to mention some clients would like to see 20 options of each outfit or look to choose from, so digital photography is somehow inevitable, but that doesn't mean the film is dead. 

Call me old fashioned but if someone was covering all my expenses and the clients had the patience to wait for processing and scanning I'd use film for everything except the LookBooks. 

Camera: Mamiya RZ67 ProII 

Lens: Mamiya Sekor - Z 127mm 1:3.8

Film: New Kodak Portra 160 of course

Hand Processed in dip and dunk tanks by Me

Scanned in Hasselblad Flexthight X1

Exposure: 1/125 sec at f/16 ISO 160

Camera: Nikon D3X

Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8

Tethered to PhaseOne CaptureOne 7

Exposure: 1/125 sec at f/16, ISO 160

Credits

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) . . . ME 

Makeup artist: Laura Kate Rzemieniecka

Model: Eren Gencler

Stay tuned on my next shoot I will use 5x4 large format, Mamiya RZ67 and Nikon D3X or Nikon D800

Shoot me like "Terry" - 6.1

This photo wasn't in the category of Shoot me like "terry" however, as I started snapping the photos I noticed that Eren (the model) was getting bit too confortable infront of the camera, so I didn't say anything until snapped a photo which I found interesting, then I got back to art-directing again.

Here is the result, which reminds me of i-D

Camera: Nikon D3X + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) . . . ME 

Makeup artist: Laura Kate Rzemieniecka

Model: Eren Gencler

Beauty Shoot

This time we did it and we did it good. 

Here is a sneak-peek of the photoshoot I did with my reliable makeup artist friend Laura Kate Rzemieniecka. This was a portfolio shoot and we all enjoyed the shoot, thanks to Laura and two bottels of vine she brought with her. Eren and Laura did a great job here and I think this trio will do more shoots together in future. 

Also this was one of the first shoot I did in my studio. 

Exposure: 1/125 sec at f/16 ISO 160

Camera: Nikon D3X with Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) ME
Makeup: Laura Kate Rzemieniecka
Model: Eren Gencler

Why did I keep the ISO 160 but not 100 ? Simple I was also shooting with the Beast Mamiya RZ67 ProII and I had Kodak Portra 160ASA loaded in it so 1st I wanted to compare Mamiya to Nikon 2nd I was lazy to recalculate exposure 2 times every photograph or every change.

So my Mamiya RZ67 proII VS Nikon D3X photos will be coming very soon, stay tuned! 

Hilarious Sigma Lens review.

When I saw this hilarious sigma lens review I could not stop laughing and I wanted to share with any one who comes to this blog.

Shoot me like "Terry" - 6

Aaww yea long time I haven't uploaded one of these. 

After a nice successful beauty shoot with Laura Kate Rzemieniecka which had some interesting snack and 2 bottles of vine, I followed the tradition of documenting the day with a snap of the lovely model Eren. So I popped my "TerryFlash" on and start snapping.

As usual I told her to be her self and also said show your self as you want to show yourself in front of the camera. 

 Camera: Nikon D3X + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce) . . . ME 

Makeup artist: Laura Kate Rzemieniecka

Model: Eren Gencler

Also I forgot to mention, on this shoot I used D3X and Mamiya RZ67 ProII loaded with kodak portra ISO160.
So in due time I will post comparison images of D3X to Mamiya RZ67 ProII, which will be like a Film Vs Digital. 

Practicing Photoshop #3

Photoshop is one of the most important program/tool in fashion photography.
Even that the model, clothes, location, light etc . . . is perfect we still do photoshop, and since I started to work with people who are looking for unnatural results (by unnatural I mean, different colour than the actual image) I started experimenting in photoshop.

Here is one of the photographs I worked on, in photoshop. I hope its better than the last one . . . This has taken me two hours or so.

I know my colour manipulation skills are incredibly bad, but as my father once told me "practice makes perfect" and I hope to reach there soon. . .

Exposure: f5.6 at 1/25sec ISO 200

Team:
Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
2nd Photographer: Erhan Ozturk
Stylist: Anastasia Taneeva
Model: Bodo
Editing - Retouching: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)

Magnificent News . . .

If you are a usual (I doubt you are) reader of this blog, then you may have noticed that I haven't been writing here as often as I used to write. The reason for that was, my colleague and I were working on something which was very time consuming. However it is done we finally finished it.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that my Photography studio is completed, and it is awesome.

We decided to stick with the name "Studyo" which means studio in Turkish.

Address:
100 Clement's Road
Biscuit Factory K106
SE16 4DG

The website: http://studyo.co.uk/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/studyo.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Studyocouk

Practicing Photoshop #2

Photoshop is one of the most important program/tool in fashion photography.
Even that the model, clothes, location, light etc . . . is perfect we still do photoshop, and since I started to work with people who are looking for unnatural results (by unnatural I mean, different colour than the actual image) I started experimenting in photoshop.

Here is one of the photographs I worked on, in photoshop. I hope its better than the last one . . . This has taken me two hours or so.

I know my colour manipulation skills are incredibly bad, but as my father once told me "practice makes perfect" and I hope to reach there soon. . .

Exposure: f5.6 at 1/25sec ISO 200

Team:
Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
2nd Photographer: Erhan Ozturk
Stylist: Anastasia Taneeva
Model: Bodo
Editing - Retouching: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)

Current Project

Sorry guys it has been some time that I haven't write anything. (as if anyone checks my blog weekly)

The reason for that was I am currently working on my dissertation and Final Major Project and on top of that I am soon opening my own Photography Studio in London, I'll give the studio details when it is open.

Lets get to my current project which is called Final Major Project, but I've renamed it to "The Other Self"
I'll be focusing on triptych photography in this project and aiming on demonstrating the multiple personality disorder and the metamorphosis of the individuals personality.
So far I've done some tests and I've written the methodology of the project and as soon as stylist and makeup artists present me their ideas I'll start the production of the project.

Here is a sneak-peak of what the Makeup artist Laura Kate Rzemieniecka has in mind for one of the character in the project.

Isn't that drawing amazing?

In a month I'll start shooting.

Update below.
Ps: I forgot to mention I'll be shooting this project with 4x5 Large Format and use Kodak Portra.

Practicing Photoshop #1

Photoshop is one of the most important program/tool in fashion photography.
Even that the model, clothes, location, light etc . . . is perfect we still do photoshop, and since I started to work with people who are looking for unnatural results (by un natural I mean, different colour than the actual image) I started experimenting in photoshop.

Here is one of the photographs I worked on, in photoshop. I made roughly 7 of them and only this didn't give me cancer while I was looking at it. As they say 7th is the charm ???

I know my colour manipulation skills are incredibly bad, but as my father once told me "practice makes perfect" and I hope to reach there soon. . .

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
Stylist: Klementine King
Makeup and Hair: Alice Howlett
Model: Claudia D.

D800 vs 5D MkIII (Crisislab)

So I posted the first part of this review months ago.
Now that I've seen all 2 parts, I just wanted to make a full post.
This guy is hilarious and he is testing + comparing both the cameras in a way I like. In my opinion more people in youtube should test, review, or compare products like this.
Anyways comparing crisislab comparison videos to other youtubers who are doing similar suff, all I will say is Crisislab videos are better and they know what they are doing.

Check out the videos on their website, they are funny and informative.
Here is a link to their website.  http://www.crisislab.com/

Shoot me like "Terry" - 5

After I helped my friend and colleague Olgac with Lighting, I snapped a photo of the lovely Model Madalina.

Also I noticed that some people are telling my my current style is moving towards the i-d magazine.

Camera: Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm 

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
Stylist: Marina de Magalhaes
Makeup Artist: Violet Zeng
Model: Madalina @Premier

Sinar 4x5 LargeFormat

Ever thought there is more in to photography then 35mm . . . Nikon Canon Digital cameras & Mamiya Hasselbald Medium Format cameras? 

Well I had my first Large Format experience last year, that day I sad to my self "This is awesome" but since I was in tight schedule I could not shoot my projects on Large Format.

Last week in my University we had a Large format workshop, although the work shop was all about Large format and shooing film in colour and B&W, we didn't use any traditional film. Instead of the Film we loaded up the cameras with 5x4 photographic paper and expose our images to that.

Since we were only 3 students who actually attended the class out of 35 students( Which should have been divided to 3 groups) we had one whole day workshop (3 students and 5 Large format cameras) which was really fun.

I've shot on photographic paper in Large format, thus it was a interesting thing to test on for me.

I found out that, shooting directly to photographic paper was resulting in really Contrasty black and white photos where we lose a lot of detail from blacks and grey tones, so my Tutor suggested that I should test on pre-exposing the paper in darkroom by using a projector.

 Here are the results  . . .
Note: Since to ASA of the photographic paper is extremely low like ASA3 i had to expose both the photographs about 4 seconds.

(This one above is Photographic paper with out pre-exposing)

(This one above is pre-exposed photographic paper)

Models.com

I am proud.

Roughly a week ago my friend Olag contacted me to about a shoot we have done. During the shoot I've snapped a photo of the model with *Shoot me like "Terry"* style to document it.

After I edited the photo, I sent it to her as a sign of appreciation and wished her best in her career.
2 and a half month later she appeared in Models.com with my photo in her portfolio.

Here is the link below.

http://models.com/newfaces/dailyduo/23657

Here is the photo.

What I find most interesting is that, even that this is the very same photo that I've sent her (well in bit bigger size than this) the photo which was uploaded in the website (models.com) do not show the same colours, so we can see the the different colour profiles different websites.

This is another reason why I dont like online portfolios, because you are limited with in the colour profile of the website and also the colour settings of the person viewing the photograph.

Also my congratulations to Maria D.

Holidays in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 GO

In 5 hours or so, I'll be on my way to Istanbul. There I'll re-apply for visa and while waiting for visa I'll go to the coast and sail the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea. 

During this time I'll not be able to write on this blog. So if you are a frequent (I doubt any one actually reads anything here) this is my notice  to you :D. 

However I'll be doing lots of Free Diving and Scuba Diving and this time I am taking my GoPro Hero2 camera with me to show what I see when I dive. 

Here is a pic of me swimming in open sea. 

Shoot me like "Terry" - 4

So the main idea of Shoot me like "Terry" themed photos are to show the models personality and their own poses when they are not art directed. All I tell to model is "Be your self" and "do what ever you want"

Here is the 4th part of shoot me like "Terry".
If I keep shooting at this rate (snap a photo of the model I'm shooting or doing the light for) by the end of 2013 I'll have enough photos to make a little book.

After I help my friend and colleague Olgac with lighting, I snapped some photos of the lovely model Claudia.

1st Photo being She was being serious.

2nd Photo I told her to relax and be her self. 

Camera: Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
Stylist: "Coming soon"
Makeup and Hair: Alice Howlett
Model: Claudia D.

Upgrading to Nikon D800

The Camera that I'll be getting soon.

I've been using my D700 for 2 years now and I know that this is not a very long time (in my opinion). Why? because I checked the Shutter count on my camera to see how much I used it, and so far in last 2 years I've only shot roughly 30.000 photos.

30.000 photos . . . I believe it is not a big number for 2 year time of shooting.
What have I done with my D700 so far? Well I only shoot Fashion and academic work with it, I haven't shoot any family, friends, travel, CATS, DOGS etc . . .
I believe if the D700 would meet my satisfaction I'd not be chancing it, and I know for sure that I'd be using the D700 more often if it satisfied my needs, but when ever I had to print HUGE images I shot in Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with Kodak Portra 160ASA of course.

Why Upgrade to D800?


1. For More Megapixels and Resolution

Why? If I was only shooting family, travel, Cat, Dog, babies, travel and all the other boring stuff or if my clients would print small size photos like 10"x8" then I'd stick with D700, but The fact is I only shoot fashion and fashion related stuff also the smallest size I print is 13" x 19". I know D700 can print 13"x19" if I Resize the photo, however the original file size from the camera with out resizing the photo is 9"x14" This can be enlarged easily 4 times greater than the original size how ever if I crop the image it becomes a hassle to enlarge. D800 on the other has the original file in 24.8"x16.5" with out enlarging on Photoshop, this gets the cropping and resizing way easier than it was.

2. For Video Function

Yes . . . Video you heard it right. With moving image taking an important role in fashion industry, having a Full Frame (35mm) DSLR which can record 1080p or 720p video and use different lenses is going to be a really big Plus to me, not to mention with the Dual card slots I can record video on SD card and Stills to Compact Flash Card.

3. ISO 

To start with I am not an ISO freak and I never shoot at low light, I know flash photography really well, and with flashes and a tripod I can get the combination of flash and ambient light easily. So I don't need high ISO at all. D700 could only go to ISO 200 and D800 can go ISO 100 that is 1 stop difference, which can help me on DoF. (how it can help me with DoF? simple if the flash meter is telling me that I am getting 1/125sec at f8 with 200ISO I'll get f5.6 at 100 ISO)

4. Performance on Portrait 

I am not a Camera geek, but I want accuracy in colours on the photos. And the tests that DxOmark shows that D800's sensor is the 3rd best so far, and first 2 places are Phase One digitalbacks for medium format cameras. Not to mention my Teacher at Perry Curties (fashion photographer and cofounder of 125mag) is a Phase One user who got him self a D800 and mention to me that D800 is a great camera. I know that Perry doesn't like 35mm that much but if he said it is a great camera there must be something great about it.


5. Price

For an amazing camera it has an amazing great price, in UKit sells something between 2500 to 2600 pound, a great deal if you ask me. Not to mention in USA it will be cheaper than it is on UK.


What I am not looking at?


1. Frame rate

I really don't care about frame rate, in fact even 2 frames per second is fast enough for me. All I shoot is fashion and when I say fashion I am excluding catwalk (that is event). Since I "create the moment" not catch and capture it I am not looking for a camera that can take a movie with stills.

2. High Bloody ISO

I really Really REALLY don't care if my camera can go to ISO 1324834543906045692. I know the highest I'll go is 1600ISO and I'll only do that to capture behind the scenes on fashion shoot, even for must behind the scenes I use a SB600 + small softbox.

3. File Size 

I really don't understand why People are crying about their file size, they are like" OH my D800 files are so huge I can only take 150 photos and my memory card is maxed out" seriously, I can only take 10 photos with my Mamiya RZ67 Anyways most of the time The camera will be tethered and when it is not I'm not a Trigger happy photographer 150 photos are enough for me to get one fashion shoot done. Also don't forget the 20 years ago sports, fashion, wedding, event, concert, and every thing was shot on film, and I bet they didn't need to shoot 2000 images to get 20 good usable photos.


Well this is most of the reasons
I'll add more if I remember something that I didn't mention.

Shoot me like "Terry" - 3

Here is the 3rd part of shoot me like "Terry".

After I help my friend and colleague Olgac with lighting, I snapped some photos of the lovely model Maria.

A stand alone Portrait. 

Great face and eyes and those cheekbones are incredible. 

Looking back at Last year

I've  been looking at my old work, which I've shoot last year.

I found a pic of Ariana, she it now Working with Oxygen Models I decided to re-edit the photo. Out of boredom and Just for the practice reasons. 

Camera:Nikon D700 + 70-200mm VRII

Photographer: Bugra Ergil (Bruce)
Stylist: Anastasia Taneeva
Makeup: Rempi
Model: Ariana

Lighting Info: (I don't usually share this) 
2 Kinoflo almost infront of her and 1 Honeycomb flash from behind as seen.
Combination of Continues and Strobe light.

By the way when I said Ariana now working with Oxygen Models I mean she wasn't working with them back in the time when I photographed her. This became some what a issue couple of month ago when my friend sent a PDF of my work to them and asking for a "New Face" model. They were keep telling her that Ariana was Oxygen Model which wan't mentioned in PDF, but Logically speaking she wasn't a Oxygen model dunting the time I was working with her. 

Behind the Scenes - Expressions Project

Here are some photos that I snapped while I was shooting the 5 week long expression project. 

Gina Harrison looking at me and my ancient Minolta X700. I was saying Who needs insagram when you have Analog Camera, Processing/Dark Room + Skills . . . and a film scanner which is not calibrated or something because the film comes out all fase color. 

One of my favorite Makeup artist & Friend Laura Kate Rzemienicka. Putting makeup to her self to test or we are going to Hyde Park to suntan ?

Alice Bizarre, All confident with her work. . . She says "Trust me I am Alice Bizarre" In Alice We Trust. 

Laura Kate Photoshopping, I believe if you watch some one do photoshop for 11 hours you can pickup a thing or two. Here is the proof :)

Angry Strobist is Angry . . .

Weeks ago I found a blog that Copies photos form Flickr group page and then posts them on a blog named StobistPlus.

When I saw that I asked in the Stobist discussion board, is it real or fake or how many strobist blogs are there?
The Post got the attention of some people and the manin guy Strobist (David Hobby).

I took screen shots of my post and his reply.

Wow if I could hear sound of his post I'd say the post is loud and angry. 

In my opinion David has the right to be angry about this blog, imagine that you do something great, build a internet community about photography and off camera flash then one guy comes and not only copies the idea but also thousands of posts and photos. 

Almost everything in internet can be copied, downloaded, or duplicated so my advice to you (to the readers if you exist or read) don't upload print size images and commercial work every where online.