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favorite window -- it's about the only window
I have that faces south -- I'm next to a 9
story building that's less than 2 feet away,
so there isn't much point to having a south
facing window -- for most of the house, it
would look out upon a brick wall that was
close enough to touch. However, that
tall building is recessed a bit from the
street, and this window is towards the front
of the house, so it does get light -- in fact,
in the afternoon, if the day is clear, it will
get direct sunlight. |
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| Bright
sunny days are rare in the Pacific Northwest,
so I watch for this ray of sunlight all year
long. The sunlight changes throughout
the year. In summer, the sun is nearly
directly overhead, and the patch of sunlight
puddles right there below the window. In
the winter, sunny days are even more rare, but
when the sun shines, that ray of sunlight
stretches even more horizontally. Here,
in early September, the angle of the sun is
about halfway between its summer & winter
extremes. |
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| This
sitting was just a little while after
Natalia's third sitting. And during that
sitting, I enjoyed the "Clothed
Nude" images she & I had made,
where she wore a t-shirt & nothing
else. I asked Betcee to model only her
favorite top. Right now, it's subtle,
but anticipation can be very sexy. |
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| Here's
an image that doesn't quite work for me -- I
want to be over the my right more, so that I'm
level with Betcee's waist instead of her
ankles, but the configuration of the room just
doesn't allow that -- there's a wall in the
way. While I like the tight cropping,
the wide angle distortion isn't working for
the image -- her head just looks unnaturally
small. I requested that Betcee show me
this, and I'm glad she did, but we don't stay
here for long. (I do like the cropping.) |
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Using natural light is
a radically different discipline to using studio lighting.
You've got to work with what Mother Nature provides you. And
because of my eye problems, I do let the digital camera make some
exposure & focus decisions for me.
I notice that I'm
moving around a bit -- normally, I'd be level with Betcee (i.e. we
both would be the same distance from the window) -- here, I'm a bit
further away than Betcee & am pointing at that back wall at an
angle.
Okay, the exposure
is poor (never let a camera make critical decisions for you), but I do
like the "feel" of this image.
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| Here's
a favorite image from this sitting. In fact, here's a favorite
image of Betcee. Further, this is a favorite image of the
year. For the past several sittings, I've been wishing that I
could create strong compositions like I used to when I first started
in photography -- here, I did. This is what I meant when I
talked about my strong composition ability. I asked Betcee to move into
the corner, and I love the off-center placement of her figure. I
love how the patch of sunlight balances the image. I am pleased
& surprised that the light on Betcee's face is so lovely. I
love the diagonals of the sunlight on the wall & the floor
boards. Yes, indeed -- this is definitely a favorite!
In fact, take a
close look at Betcee's face. This is wonderful light. I'm
sure to come back to this spot in the future.
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| If
you are anything like me, you are probably drooling over Betcee's
mesmerizing face & figure, but I've got to ask you -- does the
presence of the wall plug under the window bother you? Sure,
I can photo-edit it out. I've got to admit that it is mildly
distracting. Perhaps I should just plug in a lamp & put
it on the floor & include it in the image. Or maybe it's
not worth it. |
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| Where
did that wall plug go? Yes, I guess it's better to remove
the plug. I'm just one of those photographers who want to
minimize their digital manipulations. |
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There's
a lot of "post processing" that goes
into every image on this site. Here's an
example: the color image to the right is
a full-frame unedited image, and below is the
post processed version. Here's what I
did:
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I
chose a different cropping for the image.
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I
applied the sepia tone effect.
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I
adjusted the brightness & contrast,
using histogram editing.
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I
"clarified" the image.
I
do this (and sometimes more) for every image
-- it
takes several minutes per image to do
this. |
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There
are some purists who believe
that photographers shouldn't
crop their images. In
fact, there are many who feel
obligated to include the edges
of their negatives with the
little film identification
characters when they print
their images, as if to prove
that they are showing their
viewers the full negative.
Obviously,
I don't feel that way:
- My
first camera was an old
Nikon rangefinder (that is
older than I am, and
that's old). When
you use a rangefinder, you
are never quite sure where
the edges of the image are
going to be. So, I
got in the habit of
stepping back a little
& including a little
more than what I needed.
- Besides,
I'm a big fan of unusual
cropping -- I love it when
long & skinny or tall
& skinny images work.
So,
I say crop
away. In fact, a
large part of the fun of
post-processing is to look at
the full sized image &
find fun cropping
alternatives. Look at
the image above, where I show
the full sized image and a
cropped version. When I
look that the full sized
image, I can think of a few
different cropping
alternatives that may be
interesting.
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Here's another
favorite: lovely light, lovely face, and lovely pose.
Speaking of
cropping -- although cropping is great fun, I still try to utilize as
much of the negative as possible -- the less you use, the lower the
quality you get.
I remember being in
a camera store, browsing, and I overheard the salesperson trying to
sell a customer a 6x6 famous name camera, telling him how much better
it was versus a 6x7 camera. The customer turned to me &
asked me what I think. I told him that I crop nearly all of my
images, but very few of them wind up being square. Therefore, a
square negative would imply that I'm wasting a good deal of the
negative on each image. I recommended the rectangular format
camera.
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Here
I am, talking about everything
except Betcee.
I
am very comfortable around
Betcee -- we've worked
together three times before,
and we hang out a little when
she comes to town.
People sometimes wonder about
how a nuce model can feel
comfortable with a
photographer, but that works
the other way, too. Even
though I am very experienced
at this point, I am still
reliant on chemistry in order
to create my best
images. With Betcee,
chemistry is pretty much
assured. She just has
the confidence &
personality that's easy to be
around.
Betcee
has the face of an angel --
she is stunningly
beautiful. But she has a
soft, shapely, womanly figure,
and I want to see that.
I ask Betcee to take her time
& start getting that tank
top off. She does take
her time, and that makes these
images very sexy.
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When working with
natural light, you are at the mercy of the changing light. When
I work with the studio lights, I can set the exposure & forget
about it as long as I work with that setup. But using sunlight
like this, well, the sun moves, the clouds move, the light changes all
the time.
I ask Betcee to
move out of the corner & into that patch of sunlight as she
removes her top.
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| There's
a lot to like about working with powerful sunlight. You
can't fake natural sunlight shadows, like the one on the wall. And I like how
strong light can bounce around & reflect back onto the
subject. While I am on this topic, I always can tell when a
photographer tries to imitate sunlight with artificial lights -- I
can tell when the "parallel" lines aren't parallel.
I've always
found it exciting to catch that first glimpse of the underside of
a model's breast. And I like the light on Betcee's lovely
face. However, I have a long-standing posing bugaboo -- I
don't like it when a limb is pointing towards the camera lens
(like Betcee's lovely right thigh here). |
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Man,
to me, this picture is like a
three-ring circus. I
love how the shadows & the
edge of Betcee's top caress
her figure.
That's
all woman!
Still,
this image doesn't quite work
for me.
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| Better!
I am fascinated by the shadow on the wall behind Betcee,
especially the distortion formed where the wall hits the
floor. That's crazy. |
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I love the sunlight,
and anyone can stand to look at Betcee for long periods of time, but
these past few images just didn't quite work for me, partially because
of the position of Betcee's right thigh.
So, I crop.
This one works well for me. Let's call this one a favorite, too.
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| The
last several images, directly in the patch of sunlight, were a
little too contrasty & difficult for me, so I ask Betcee to
position herself under the window. That's nice light --
although the hair halo is a bit too bright. Still, this is
easy to look at.
What do you
say? Is it time to lose that top? |
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Man!
Betcee has the kind of beauty
that makes men lose I.Q.
points! Believe me, it's
a big challenge to keep cool,
focused on the task, and not
devolve into a drooling ape.
Okay
-- it's not bragging if it's
true, but I've seen a lot of
naked women. I've also
seen a lot of nude
photographs. And I have
this observation:
sometimes a woman appears more
nude than at other times, and
this is independent on her
state of undress. So,
sometimes I wonder -- how can
we maximize that feeling of
nude-ness?
Take,
for example, those "Clothed
Nude" images I made
with Natalia during the
previous sitting: half
the time, Natalia was covered,
yet she appeared nude; half
the time she was nude, yet she
appeared covered.
Anyhow,
to me, here Betcee looks
really nude, even though the
pose & angle covers up a
lot. For me, what's
exciting is looking at that
uninterrupted expanse of skin
starting at her shoulder,
along the curve of her back,
over her hip, and along her
thigh.
I
like this picture a lot.
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A cropping experiment
-- here I try a favorite "tall & skinny"
proportioning. I like the sheen on the floor, reflecting the
window light. I like it, but I don't love it, so I don't make
many exposures like this one.
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Another
cropping experiment, with good
results. I love soft
light on smooth skin. I
love the comfort in Betcee's
expression. I love the
shadows on her womanly curves.
I love how natural the
lighting feels.
Comfort
is of critical importance to
me, and Betcee might be the
most natural person I know --
she is totally at ease when
she is without clothing.
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Okay -- another
personal nit. Pictures like this are so popular that experienced
models often offer these poses to their photographers. But to me, it
just begs the question: "What the
heck is she looking at?" When I work with a model, I
prefer that she gives the camera eye contact, or that she looks at
something within the boundaries of the image, or that she closes her
eyes. I want poses that show that the model's brain is
engaged.
During the sitting,
the model & I are talking about all sorts of things. But if
she's staring out into the distance, I figure that I'm not capturing
the model's attention.
So, don't show me
any "models staring out of the window" images -- I probably
won't like them.
To Betcee's defense
-- this kind of thing is popular, so I can't blame her for showing me
this kind of pose. I guess it's my fault, too -- I must have
been looking at something other than her eyes when I made this
exposure.
That's why I prefer
using a tripod. With a tripod, you can preset all the technical
stuff (exposure, focus, composition) first, then when it's time to
make the exposure, you can look at the model & not the camera.
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| One
last image from this setup, and I think it is a good one. I
like the hand on the wall -- it provides nice twist & tension
to Betcee's torso. I also like the inclusion of a bit of the
sunlight on the wall -- it adds a bit of complexity to the image. |
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