Undressed vampires

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I am challenging myself to pick a shot from each shoot I do and create a more advanced edit that I would normally do. This will keep my Photoshop skills up and I can learn new techniques as I work.

On the 12th of June I was asked to shoot for the House of Burlesque at the Electric Carousel in Piccadilly. It was a standard shoot of the show with a few shots of the stage and audience thrown in. Images were sorted, edited and delivered the next day. I then looked for which of the shots I would like to edit beyond the standard.

I choose a shot of performer Trixie Kixx. There were a number of things that I wanted to change from the original. I was going for a ‘vampire’ type vibe as an end result. This was taken with my 70d and the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8.

  • The red curtain needed to be removed in favor of the better right hand side of the frame.
  • Skin needed to be smoother and somewhat waxier.
  • Remove distractions.
  • Reduce the overall redness.
  • The lighter and darker parts of the clothing needed to be enhanced.

If the above worked I should be looking at something that may have been shot in a crypt rather than on a stage.

One of the first thing I did was to clean up the image, using the spot healing tool in Photoshop CC 2015 to remove scrapes, blemishes and other pieces that I knew would be trouble and stand out later. On the inside of the coat there looked to be stains of some sort. These turned out to be flower patterns woven into the fabric. I didn't think flowers were very 'vampish' so these were removed.

The next stage was to tidy up the curtain on the left hand side. I used a shot a couple of seconds after this one where there was more of the right hand side showing. I add this as another layer and used a mask to remove the parts of the shot I didn't need. The mask followed the line of Trixie's arm and right leg.

I then decided it would be a good idea.to blend the two layers together to make a background layer and then create a mask of Trixie herself to aid in edits further on. I darkened the Background layer a little to reduce the red glow.

I made a copy of the Trixie layer and used a slight Gaussian effect to blur the skin. Again a mask was used and brushed back the clothing and necklace. This smoothed out the skin and allowed me to also add a brightness layer to brighten the skin and make it stand out from the background.

 

A Trixie layer was exported back to Lightroom and opened in Topaz Glow. I had an idea to enhance the clothing and necklace. Choosing a preset and saved back to Lightroom, opened back into Photoshop and copied to the main project.

The whole of that layer was effected by the Topaz Glow effect so I added a mask and brought back only the areas of the clothing that I required. However this had the effect of making the highlights look like diamonds. It was a nice effect but not what I needed here. So I used and Curves adjustment layer and reversed the effect.

This had the effect of darkening and reddening the detail which fitted the vampish effect I wanted. I darkened the rest of the clothing to make it darker than it's original color.

The final TIFF was saved with ZIP compression to layers so the overall size was around 600mb rather than 1.4gig.

Final adjustments were made in Lightroom were used to sharpen the red highlights of the clothing and headpiece. With slight darkening around the edges of the arms and legs just to blend Trixie in a bit better with the background.

Adjustment brushes were used to lighten and De-saturate the skin where needed. I didn't want the skin to look to undead like but not quite 'alive' if you know what I mean.

Finally I used a custom preset to darken and add a slight blue tint to the background. This needed removing from Trixie again so back went both the darken and normal images as layers to photoshop and the the dark parts removed.

The final image is below along with the original for comparison.

Before and After... no vampires were harmed in the making of this image.

Trixie Kixx is a Neo burlesque artiste with all the curves and all the moves!

Follow Tixie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trixiekixx/, Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks to Trixie for allow me to feature her performance in this blog post.

Nell Gwynn's History Laid Bare

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Orange Faced Puppet

I managed to catch up with Ginger Blush at her one woman show, Nell Gwynn's History Laid Bare in Croyden. I had not been to Croyden before so as normal I made travel plans that meant I was there a full 30 minutes early. Better to be early than late though.

The very helpful Google Maps showed me where the Spread Eagle pub was in relation to the nearest fast food outlet. There are times I have found I will be concentrating on the event, camera settings and meeting performers that I forget to eat until after. Sometimes this means eating very late when I get home. So this time I eviscerated two cheese burgers before walking to the pub.

Arriving at the location I introduced myself to the promoter and was taken upstairs to meet Miss Blush, who was in a semi state of undress! A quick zip later and we were in the theatre area discussing where I could stand. As a rule I always scout an area out by using Google Images before attending. In this case I had Googled 'Spread Eagle pub interior theatre images' and saw that there would be rows of seats with a central isle.

Whenever possible I do like to talk to the performers about the show and ask if there is anything in particular that they want me to capture. I also like to take back stage shots of them getting ready. The shot to the right was taken close to start of the show.

During the performance I choose to stand next to the Audio/Visual area which would mean I would be behind the audience. I am Lensintheface by name not in nature! I try to be face on if I can as the performer is generally centre stage most of the time projecting forwards so I would get some great facial and action shots. OK I would get the odd audience head or two in the way but that's live theatre for you and I feel does add to the photos.

The lighting was dark to medium brightness but Miss Blush did tend to stick to the centre of the stage where the light was more favourable. I was using my Canon 70d with the Canon 24-105 f4 L lens a combination that is working perfectly.

This particular performance, was funny and informative. I found myself at times watching, and listening to the narrative quite a lot. This did not detract from the amount of good photos I managed to capture though. It is good to watch and listen to the performance as you can anticipate the performers next move and capture shots you would otherwise miss.

One such shot was of the orange faced puppet mentioned above. At this stage, the history lesson had moved on to where Nell Gwynn became a mistress of Charles II. I think this is one of the most surreal photos I have taken on a stage. This could be the stuff of nightmares for some but for me the sight of a Charles II puppet with an orange tennis ball for a face singing along to the sound of Donna Summers 'I feel love' had me in stitches.

Baby Lame's Shit Show

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I was contacted by a performer called Baby Lame to shoot his burlesque show at the Glory pub in Haggerston, North London. I accepted the job and immediately used Google Image search to check out the venue. I do this every time for a new venue to scope out the area before attending.

I hopped on to the East London line I arrived at the Glory with 30 minute spare till show time. Baby Lame and a couple of other performers were rehearsing the opening act. After which we had a quick chat about where I could shoot and I was given a running order of the performers. I like to keep hold of this as I can then add names of the performers to their respective photos in Lightroom later.

This show was an eye opener!

Looking around the room I decided not to stay near the bar as that is normally crowded, so I stuck more around the left hand side near the audio visual unit and the centre between the two pillars.

After the show, on the way home I started culling shots in camera. The screen in small but I can easily see if any of the shots have blurred limbs or the composition is off. All shots were completed and delivered the next day.

The Folly Mixtures

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I have had the great fortune to shoot for the Folly Mixtures on a number of occasions now, whether from their own performances or as guests in other shows.

I believe the shots taken here were with the Canon 70-200mm F2.8 lens. I needed the reach!

Shows have been at Madam Jo Jo's and at the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square.

http://www.thefollymixtures.co.uk/

Cabaret Tease

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Cabaret Tease

Based in the Landor Theatre in Clapham, this was one of the hardest show I had to shoot. I had my 24-70mm f4 with me which was more than adequate for wide angle shots and close ups of the performers. The problem was the stage area was very dark and a lot of stage smoke was used.

However as you can see both the lens and the Canon 70d pulled off some fantastic shots.

Cabaret Tease featured some of the finest talents from the London Burlesque School as well as an extraordinary and original performances from the professional skating stars of Burlesque On Ice.

http://cabarettease.com/

Good Ness Gracious

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I contacted a performer Ness Gracious, and asked if she was available for a quick shoot? She said she was so I jumped on to the East London Line up to Rotherhithe station. Ness arrived on time and we walked towards the Thames. The weather wasn't on our side so I had earlier suggested Ness brings an umbrella. Turns out we used it as a prop during the times when it was really windy.

While Ness was posing with the North bank of the Thames behind her I could see that where ever I pointed the camera there was always a crane in view! Still I had to set fire to the stunt umbrella that had taken a bit of a beating by the end of the session.

We moved on to a local park where a children's play area and a band stand were made use of. We dodged a couple of squirrels and a friendly dog too. I had spotted a small cafe close to the edge of the park and thought it was nearly time to call it a day. While kicking a few leaves around I asked Ness to gather some up and throw them in the air while I try to capture them in mid flight.

We had a few goes at it as many of the leaves had their own ideas when it came to gravity and decided to get in front of Ness's face. In the end I managed to stitch a few shots together to make one composition. After which we had a cup of tea in the cafe and called it a day.

I learned from this shoot that asking performers to model can be advantage. There are very used to being in the public view so shooting around town is not a problem and, like with Ness, needed very little directing. Roll on Summer, lets do this again!

Miss Whisky Falls

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Back to Balham!

A while back I shot for Sadie Sinner with Mynxie Monroe at the Bedford pub in Balham. This time I was shooting for Yvette Jenkins and Whisky Falls for BurlesqueNylons.co.uk.

This location had me looking around the area to maximize the diversity of shot we could use. I had Whisky draped over a throne, posing against a fireplace and the pub bar as well as upside down on a couch.

We then strolled outside to the underside of a rail bridge close by. The light at this time of day was incredible, allowed me to take some fantastic sharp shots of Whisky against the brickwork of the bridge. Just around the corner from there was a path way which we also used while the sun was setting.

Mynxie Monroe

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It is not every day that I am asked ‘could you shoot something royal in pub in Balham? There will be a throne and model!’ Hell yeah OK!

I had been contacted by Sadie Sinner, whom I have met at Madam Jo Jo’s, to do a shoot as soon as possible for an event she was hosting later in July.

I asked for a few more details and realized I would need to bring my lights again. This would be my second chance to use my lights in anger as they were last used in Brighton for my shoot with Violet Blaze. They performed well then so I was excited to give them another go.

I arrived early at the Bedford in Balham with time to spare. My contact was the manager of the pub called Scott, who was not in work that day. No matter, I talked to the bar staff and as I could show I was knowledgeable about Scott and the throne I was allowed to go up and check out the area.

The pub hosts music and comedy nights and while I ascended the stairs I could hear some folk music coming from the central auditorium. I wasn’t sure of the exact room I would be shooting in so I wandered around a few rooms. Most were music oriented and some were furnished room with additional bar facilities.

I soon met up with Sadie and we scoped out the room. It was long on one side with windows giving lots of light. We moved a throne from an adjoining room and positioned it across from the windows.

The light wasn’t that great so I broke out the lights only to find there was no power. A quick call downstairs fixed that and we were ready. I had placed my lights to the left and right of the throne. This did off a couple of shadows but the theme was a Gothic/punk/royal/ anarchy shoot so I think they fitted.

Mynxie Monroe, the model arrived and we started the shoot. Sadie knew the kind of look she wanted so she was directing Mynxie instead of myself. This meant I could concentrate of shooting with my Canon 50mm f1.8. I had used this with the Violet Blaze shoot so I wanted to try it again today.

Having the aperture wide open at f.18 meant the depth of field was very narrow. I was trying to focus on Mynxie’s closest eye and as she was sitting still in the throne, the only movement that would spoil the shot would have been mine. Therefore I set the camera to multiple frames to hopefully ensure one will be sharp.

Moving on from the throne there was a great royal couch in the other room. We had Mynxie lounge all over it taking numerous shots. I dragged up one of the lights and placed it close to Mynxie and stood directly behind it. The light whited out her face so I decided to use this shot to try and create a vampire effect after.

Towards the end of the shoot I broke out the Sigma 10-20mm and locked off the camera on my tripod. I directed Mynxie to sit on one side of the couch and I took a shot, I then asked her to move to the other side and another shot was taken. Finally a shot was taken with Mynxie sitting in the leather chair next to the couch. These three shots were blended together later in Photoshop to create a final image.

We packed up the equipment and spent the afternoon looking through the shots on my Nexus 7.

Although it was supposed to be Gothic settingI didn't want any distractions in the shots. There were two pieces of paper on the floor and a mark on the wall. I also removed the end of a light fitting above the throne to clean up the image. I removed a number of scratch marks on the painted walls as well which was ironic as I was soon to put some back.

In Lightroom I have some pre-sets which can make a shot look grungy and… well… horrid. The effect worked on everything including Mynxie! That was not going to work so I threw the shot into Photoshop and added a layer mask to allow Mynxie to show through the grunge.

I then added a couple of textures from the SLR Lounge Texture Pack and added them to the image. The first layer was intended to add scratches around the edge of the image and the second was to add blistered paint to the walls. Layer masks took care of the blistering walls. The other texture had a bright center and a dark outer edge, making this layer as Pass Through reversed this effect, adding scratches to the outside. With both the scratches and blister layers made I was able to use these layers on the other photos, accelerating the editing process.

All the requested shots were delivered in two days and this is the final result with the poster elements added.

Violet Blaze

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Oh lord where do I begin with Violet Blaze? Nutcase... yeah that will do.

I first met Violet Blaze in the Distillers pub in Hammersmith, London. This however was the second time I have seen her perform as I had previously captured her winning performance of Big Mama at Madam Jo Jo's during the Burlesque Idol Final in 2012.

Since then we had had a number of shoots together, all at sunny Brighton in the south of England. OK one was in her bedroom... :-).

In 2015 I also had the pleasure of shooting her wedding to her husband Mike.

Ruth Young

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So a lot of people like rugby then...

'Saturday is rugby day there will be lots of people there.' - Words I wouldn't say i ignored, I just thought a few people playing with odd shaped balls would not hinder me.

WRONG!!! From Clapham Junction to Twickenham I had to let four trains go as they were full of rugby enthusiasts. Had to sit on a small fold down seat once I squeezed onto the next train. My backpack is large and in a packed train it was having a lot of fun getting in people's way. Mostly around the feet and lower back areas.

The first thing I heard once arriving at Twickenham station, was a brass band playing 'Eye of the Tiger' and not one, not two, but three burger bars. I wasn't hungry and I was meeting a friend of mine called Ruth who had agreed to model for me today.

I wanted to put more practice into using my 50mm f1.8 and my Sigma 70-200 and was fed up with just taking shots of the surrounding countryside. Hence having Ruth model for me. We met by the station entrance and walked south towards the Thames. We were soon looking at a very fancy statue in a secluded park, it looked like it was on private land. I wasn't about to boost Ruth over as the one shot I didn't want was one of her impaled on the spiky fence.

We continued on and found a park close to the river. The first thing Ruth spotted was a rope swing and immediately ran to play on it. This was a good start and for the next few minutes we tested out poses and used the surrounding area for backgrounds. Even a robin got involved at one point but flew off as I think he was a bit of a diva.

I had requested the use of a red beret as I thought this would be a great contrast against Ruth's darker hair colour. In the photo above, I had the sun behind Ruth to illuminate the beret and to highlight the shine on her jacket while my pop up flash filled in the shadows from the front.

We continued on, looking to see if it was safe to get closer to the river. There was a patch of earth with a tree on it which sat a little into the river but I wasn't happy with Ruth standing on it so we moved on. It was getting colder by the minute and after a few shots near the pier to Ham I notice that Ruth and myself had started shivering. Thankfully there was a small cafe nearby so we had a cup of tea and I let Ruth view the first set of photos.

We briskly walked to Ruth's abode and tried a few shots in the front garden, As we were about to call it a day a neighbor called Peter opened up a garage he owns close to the front garden and pulled out in a fantastic old Citroen. He noticed us taking photos and suggested we could use it for a few minutes. Well, I was moving before he even finished suggesting it! Peter said he used to use the car for weddings and one year did over 100 weddings with it. Without hesitation Ruth stood by the car and we took a few shots as the light was fading.

I first met Ruth at Madam Jo Jo's while watching and sometime photographing at Cabaret Roulette. She plays a character calledLady Lylith DeHaviland, an Aviatrix Extraordinaire (ish), Host, Singer, Lush and Opiate freak.

Click here for Lady Lylith DeHaviland's Facebook page.

Click here for Cabaret Roulette's Facebook page.