Photo shoot at Ladram Bay - dusk shot, lit up outside.

We were delighted to be selected to photograph this week for a client in the tourism sector – Ladram Bay. And boy was a pleased I had 1100 watts of lighting. The final shot of the day was this one on the right here, showing a family enjoying some al fresco dining on their balcony.

Shot from Ladram Bay - balcony overlooking sea

Trouble was, the sun had long since set, and the light that was left was pretty poor. Nee bother! I set up a lightbox umbrella, rigged up to Elinchrom’s Ranger pack to a Free Lite S head, and hey presto. So all the (nicely diffused) light you see coming in left, is that. And the closer, harder light is from a single Canon 550EX Speedlite. Inside the van was a Metz hammerhead flash, and all 3 were rigged up to Elinchrom’s wireless Skyport system.

This set-up also worked as I went outside onto the balcony to get this shot on the right using Canon’s 17-40mm f4 L series lens.

Earlier in the day I’d been able to get some great publicity shots for their new (yet to be launched) website, including families walking on the coastal path which runs right through the bay, some beach shots with canoeists, and also a set up to market their cafe on site. It’s actually a really great venue – even for a day trip, and has a fantastic beach side location. Parking is free and there’s loads to do. But I digress.

Creating an image in Cafe at Ladram Bay

Like many public facing businesses, Ladram Bay’s cafe has busy and quiet times, and we got lucky after a lunchtime slot and had the place to ourselves. Initially the client thought this was bad news – who wants a shot of an empty cafe, right? But using a couple in foreground, and a young family who happened to be passing behind, I was able to create a shot which the client was really pleased with – giving the cafe a cosy feel.

I’ll add some more shots from our next shoot which is planned for later this month, and eventually they’ll be viewable on their new website. Watch this space!