Mannequin fetish

I have a confession.  I love shooting mannequins.  It sounds like a weird fetish, but let’s face it – they are the perfect model!  They never get grumpy, they always stay still when posing and you never have to deal with skin blemishes in post processing.

The biggest trick when shooting mannequins through shop windows is to not let any outside reflections spoil the shot, especially when shooting at night.  I’ve found the best way is to take the lens hood off and put the lens flush to the glass.  If you can’t, holding your hand over the gap usually helps.   One of those flexible rubber lens hoods for a wide angle lens could work well – I haven’t tried it, but that could be an interesting thing to try as it would allow you to shoot at an angle, without creating vignetting.  Better go try it.....

Too much stray light and reflections are a blemish on an otherwise great shot.

These shots were all taken in shops and department stores along Montreal’s famous Rue St Catherines last year, using a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens.

Montreal Nuit Blanche #1 – Peace Out

For our 7^th anniversary last year, my wife and I went to Montreal for the weekend.  Totally unplanned, we found that Nuit Blanche was on and decided to take a look around.  My favourite was this guy (Phil Allard) who was making up a giant peace sign with tiny Chinese characters and some unidentified squiggles.  Very cool!  It also made for some great shots with the Nikon D700 and a Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF lens.

This wide angle shot was taken with a Tokina 17mm f3.5 AF prime.  This lens is hard to find, but is actually pretty good.  Size wise its half way between the rather large Sigma wides (12-24mm and 20mm f1.8) and the dwarfish Nikon 20mm f4.