Uploaded February 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How to shoot circus artists doing handstands in natural light in the winter. That is what this is about. Here are the details about shooting with the XT2 and the Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8
Imagine my surprise. I had been working on an extreme fashion shoot with Charlaine when I was approached by Clara to do a fashion shoot. At this point, I believe it important to just mention that most photographers benefit from filming a behind the scenes video at times. It allows people to see how you work and it gets them to be a little bit less intimidated by the process of getting into a photo shoot with you specifically.
Who is Clara
Clara Scudder Davis is a handstand artist at the Quebec city circus school. She is, first and foremost, excellent as a handstand artist. She demonstrates amazing qualities when she practices. She has fantastic flexibility and a work ethic that I really find to be second to none. She puts in the work every single day to get better and better. Her Facebook messenger message went a bit like this; "Dear Jacques, I would be honored to work with you if you ever were interested! I am not sure what you are looking for, but I thought I would message you to let you know!" I was super excited because I had been noticing her skills at school and definitely thought that she would be a great model to work with.
permitting.
How it went
The shoot went really well but we had that darned restriction of snow on the ground. Because the snow was soft, Clara had a hard time getting a grip. All is in the fingers pushing or letting go to get a grip and keep balance. Even though the boardwalk is wooden, there has been so much snow this year that it was indeed tough to get a grip onto a solid surface. By the time we found the solid surface, the cold settled in. Much of this I blame on the weather but I could have predicted these shortcomings. Well Everyday you learn something new.
The equipment
My Fujifilm equipment still seems to amaze me all the time. The Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8 is really surprisingly sharp. In this particular case I would have preferred a wider opening on the lens for more shallow depth of field to get rid of the onlookers in the back of Clara posing and I will really have to think seriously about getting the 50-140mm f/2.8. The 35mm f/2 and the 56mm f/1.2 were great for the indoor shots. I also was amazed at how the Fujifilm cameras (XT2 and XT20) are spectacular at color rendition. This is accentuated when taking any color photo and flipping it to black and white. Quite impressive.
Equipment used:
• Fujifilm X-T2 and Fujifilm X-T20
• Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8
• Fujinon 35mm f/2
• Fujinon 56mm f/1.2
Lighting
The lighting in the winter has always been a challenge in the sense that overcast skies cause for a pretty weird looking photo. You do not have the battle of consistency because the light is literally always the same and is only affected by the time of day and position of the sun. But the battle becomes a light that is so soft and so uniform that boring can set it pretty quickly and it reall really becomes a problem. On top of having almost non existen highlights and shadows you have no colour dynamics or subtlety. In fact light contrast is not there but color contrast is a disaster. It is as if you are in a white studio with a white background and there is absolutely nothing to do about it. In fact I would highly not recommend shooting in overcast skies in the winter and stick to days where the sun appears. It is quite surprising but the sun's color variance is quite dramatic during the winter months. With the longest golden hours of the year .
To buy the Fujinon 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 and support the channel
goo.gl/KKVgYq
To buy the 35mm f/2 and support the channel
goo.gl/N26tFt
To buy the 56mm f/1.2 and support the channel
goo.gl/LrJ5EC
To buy the XT2 and support the channel
goo.gl/XsWyKE
To buy the XT20 and support the channel
goo.gl/ZCMyzW
To check out the blogpost on my website click here:
jacquesgaines.com/shooting-with-clara-tips-and-tricks-on-shooting-handstands
To see a handstand photo shoot done indoors, click here:
youtu.be/z4segxFJ6kI
To know what I use, you can also go to my KIT page
kit.com/JacquesGaines
My Amazon recommends page
amazon.com/shop/jacquesgainesphotography
To follow me:
instagram.com/jacquesgainesphotography
facebook.com/jacquesgainesphotography
jacquesgaines.com
behance.net/MovingIcon
twitter.com/JacquesGaines
patreon.com/JacquesGaines
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "Behind Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech. Why was it powereful?"
youtube.com/watch?v=Fcns7kUZtOQ
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
How to shoot circus artists doing handstands in natural light in the winter. That is what this is about. Here are the details about shooting with the XT2 and the Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8
Imagine my surprise. I had been working on an extreme fashion shoot with Charlaine when I was approached by Clara to do a fashion shoot. At this point, I believe it important to just mention that most photographers benefit from filming a behind the scenes video at times. It allows people to see how you work and it gets them to be a little bit less intimidated by the process of getting into a photo shoot with you specifically.
Who is Clara
Clara Scudder Davis is a handstand artist at the Quebec city circus school. She is, first and foremost, excellent as a handstand artist. She demonstrates amazing qualities when she practices. She has fantastic flexibility and a work ethic that I really find to be second to none. She puts in the work every single day to get better and better. Her Facebook messenger message went a bit like this; "Dear Jacques, I would be honored to work with you if you ever were interested! I am not sure what you are looking for, but I thought I would message you to let you know!" I was super excited because I had been noticing her skills at school and definitely thought that she would be a great model to work with.
permitting.
How it went
The shoot went really well but we had that darned restriction of snow on the ground. Because the snow was soft, Clara had a hard time getting a grip. All is in the fingers pushing or letting go to get a grip and keep balance. Even though the boardwalk is wooden, there has been so much snow this year that it was indeed tough to get a grip onto a solid surface. By the time we found the solid surface, the cold settled in. Much of this I blame on the weather but I could have predicted these shortcomings. Well Everyday you learn something new.
The equipment
My Fujifilm equipment still seems to amaze me all the time. The Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8 is really surprisingly sharp. In this particular case I would have preferred a wider opening on the lens for more shallow depth of field to get rid of the onlookers in the back of Clara posing and I will really have to think seriously about getting the 50-140mm f/2.8. The 35mm f/2 and the 56mm f/1.2 were great for the indoor shots. I also was amazed at how the Fujifilm cameras (XT2 and XT20) are spectacular at color rendition. This is accentuated when taking any color photo and flipping it to black and white. Quite impressive.
Equipment used:
• Fujifilm X-T2 and Fujifilm X-T20
• Fujinon 55-200 f/3.5-4.8
• Fujinon 35mm f/2
• Fujinon 56mm f/1.2
Lighting
The lighting in the winter has always been a challenge in the sense that overcast skies cause for a pretty weird looking photo. You do not have the battle of consistency because the light is literally always the same and is only affected by the time of day and position of the sun. But the battle becomes a light that is so soft and so uniform that boring can set it pretty quickly and it reall really becomes a problem. On top of having almost non existen highlights and shadows you have no colour dynamics or subtlety. In fact light contrast is not there but color contrast is a disaster. It is as if you are in a white studio with a white background and there is absolutely nothing to do about it. In fact I would highly not recommend shooting in overcast skies in the winter and stick to days where the sun appears. It is quite surprising but the sun's color variance is quite dramatic during the winter months. With the longest golden hours of the year .
To buy the Fujinon 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 and support the channel
goo.gl/KKVgYq
To buy the 35mm f/2 and support the channel
goo.gl/N26tFt
To buy the 56mm f/1.2 and support the channel
goo.gl/LrJ5EC
To buy the XT2 and support the channel
goo.gl/XsWyKE
To buy the XT20 and support the channel
goo.gl/ZCMyzW
To check out the blogpost on my website click here:
jacquesgaines.com/shooting-with-clara-tips-and-tricks-on-shooting-handstands
To see a handstand photo shoot done indoors, click here:
youtu.be/z4segxFJ6kI
To know what I use, you can also go to my KIT page
kit.com/JacquesGaines
My Amazon recommends page
amazon.com/shop/jacquesgainesphotography
To follow me:
instagram.com/jacquesgainesphotography
facebook.com/jacquesgainesphotography
jacquesgaines.com
behance.net/MovingIcon
twitter.com/JacquesGaines
patreon.com/JacquesGaines
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "Behind Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech. Why was it powereful?"
youtube.com/watch?v=Fcns7kUZtOQ
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
