No, I did not execute zombies.
I executed my photoshoot!
(Strange how "execute" can mean both...)
The shoot went as well as can be expected. My friends were only free during the day so I had to improvise with my shutter speeds and flash to make them darker. I will make them look more like night time in the editing process. Towards the last couple of shots, the sun started to come out too which was irritating! We've had bad weather all week then it just decided to brighten up when I needed it dull. It was still cold and really quite windy.
I was assuming it would take much longer for this shoot. I picked everyone up at 12pm, and they had to be back by 4pm. The first location was about 40 minutes away, then the second was another 20 minutes. I thought be at the first for 1pm, done there for 2pm, at the next for 2:30pm, done there for 3:30pm, and home for 4pm. We arrived at the first place for about 12:45pm, and were done for 1:15pm. And we were at the second location, done and dusted by about half past 2! By the time I dropped everyone off and got home it was about half past three.
Setting up and testing my flash settings took a bit of time, so them four stood about a bit. Paralysed Zombie was casually posing on the ground, then decided to take a bite out of Hoodie Zombie. And miraculously afterwards he could walk, and celebrated by throwing leaves!
Due to the daylight and that I only have one remote trigger, I was unable to use slave mode to add more off camera flashes. This was a shame, but I managed. Setting up the flash power and camera setting was the most time consuming part, especially on the first photo. Once I sorted it, the rest of the shoot went by pretty smoothly.
The cold and wind were a bit of an issue. The girls' hair was blowing all over their faces and my standing male zombie was a bit stiff with cold! I kept having to tell him to relax and be floppy.
I am pretty pleased with how the photos have come out, given the conditions of the day. They don't look like much, but I have the vision in my head how they will turn out after editing and these are a good starting point. If I were to do it again, I would try to do it in an evening, and use more off camera flashes. We'd have to have more time, and maybe do it when the weather is warmer.
So, one final step to complete this shoot - Photoshop! I'm not the best with full-on photo edits so I will be using tutorials about colour grading, dodge and burn, layering etc. to help me.
Let's see how well they all turn out!