location shoot

I love my crane - new buy from videographer in Florence



Strange title? Yes. I never thought I could describe a piece of film equipment that way, but it's true.

I have just upgraded from a cobra crane jib to the Kessler crane KC8 for our fitness advert shoot in Stazione Lepolda Firenze.

Wow it really is a great piece of kit. The difference from my old one is massive. For such a lightweight and portable crane the smooth flowing floating shots look awesome. Production value goes through the roof when creatively used crane shots are employed. With some careful practice you don’t need to hire a specialized operator and bust the budget.

Colori sexy - ritocco in stile vintage per esaltare rossi e oro


Per questo servizio (realizzato in una bellissima villa a Lucca) avevo bisogno di un ritocco semplice, veloce, di tipo lifestyle ma che aggiungesse un tocco di carattere, romantico e sexy per dare più personalità alla fotografia e un mood più aspirazionale. La foto fa parte di una collezione di circa 60 immagini realizzate per Image Source quindi avevo bisogno di un ritocco che potesse essere applicato velocemente e in modo simile a tutte le fotografie della stessa serie.
Ho utilizzato come base di partenza un'azione passatami da una brava ritoccatrice (non una fotografa che si arrangia come me) el'ho utilizzata così:

 1. Dopo aver ritoccato il background da impurità, ecc ho aggiunto contrasto e utilizzato curve e maschere per ottenere il livello di luminosità generale che cercavo.

2.  Ho duplicato il background, cambiato il livello di fusione in 'screen' ad opacità 20% e creato un folder

3. Sistemato i livelli, aggiunto contrasto e un po' di saturazione, spostato hue e scurito leggermente

4. Per dare il colore ho aggiunto un altro layer di livelli, ed ho lavorato su due canali lasciando gli altri invariati:
Sul canale Red ho chiuso modificato input a 10-228 e sull'output 10-250
Sul canale Verde  ho modificato input a 25-238 e output 0-240


5. Per finire ho applicato una maschera a tutto il folder con il color cast per attenuare la colorazione sulla pelle e sui neri.






Idyllic Childhood

Sneak preview from our first of the cross media shoots in Elba Island.
Location is the amazing 'Tenuta La Chiusa' and the models are 5 local kids, aged 4 to 10. They were lovely and absolutely filled with incredibly energy... and of course sometimes a bit hard to handle!
But we let them run and play through the olive trees, the fields and on the shore... by the end they were sleeping for real in the gorgeous tent that Tanya put up for them!







Photoshoots in Elba Island

The last few weeks have been a very busy and exciting time.
Firstly, I finally moved into the new Florence studio & office and it's looking and feeling great! I then went with all the team for a week of cross media shoots on the beautiful Elba Island, just off the Tuscany coast.
We shot 5 cross-media collections for Image Source, and my favourite Art Director Tanya Lefevre who flew from London with her usual bag of amazing props and ... a new underwater casing for the D5 that we were testing, resembling a very cool sixty-handbag - basically, a plastic bag!
The weather was beautiful, with endless blue skies and an amazing strong sunlight. David Steven Lee was doing video as usual but this time with his new Panasonic GH2, and my Italian assistant Vanni proved to be absolutely untiring throughout the week!
We had lots of fun and some great adventures - shooting underwater was amazing - and I will be posting some photographs and videos as soon as they go through editing and retouching. To be expected: a couple of vintage cars to die for, a bunch of wild kids, a beautiful bride, 5 stars hotel treatment, SPA, romantic sunset, young and free teenagers ....






Lovely day for a wedding

Yesterday was a wonderful sunny day for my first shoot in Florence!
Luca & Deborah were in front of the camera and hair & make-up was by Silvia Gerzeli. I cannot thank enough for her kindness, invaluable help and of course talent!
First half of the day was around San Miniato Church and the second half in a park nearby my new office (that is almost ready!) for a more relaxed look.
I am enjoying shooting out of the studio and with (almost all) natural light... everything is a bit more relaxed and spontaneous, and I will be getting a tan soon!