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We
move back across the living
room, where there is more
space for my temporary studio.
Okay,
I admit it, when I photograph
nude models, I tend to look at
the whole package (i.e. her
figure). Betcee has a
wonderful face, and I decided
to take a little time to focus
on her face. I set up a
stool facing backwards,
position a main light in a
large soft box to my left
& a second light high on
the right, a bit behind
Betcee.
Then,
I just spend a little time
getting lost in Betcee's
mesmerizing eyes. Betcee
remains nude, just because I
like her that way.
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I move a tad closer to
crop out the back of the stool. In retrospect, I should have
stayed at this distance, but at the moment, I went back to the
original cropping.
Also, in
retrospect, I think I could have positioned the main light a tad
higher, so that in would come down on her face a little more and so
that it would reduce the shadow cast by her nose a tad more.
Just goes to show
you that you can't stop looking when you are making pictures. If
you are patient, you can fine tune your picture making, making
improvements until you refine the image. Sometimes, I even do
that. But between you & me, I didn't do that for these
images.
Still, Betcee
remains easy on the eyes, even without that refinement.
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Incorporating
a model's hands is always a
good idea. I also like
how the highlight skims the
left side of Betcee's face.
You
probably realize that I am
hyper-critical of my own
images. While I like
this image enough to designate
it as a favorite, I can point
out that putting Betcee's
elbows on the chair back has
resulted in a slight slouch,
which I don't like. I
guess I really like my models
to have excellent, even
exaggerated, posture.
That's one reason why it is a
pleasure to photograph dancers
-- they always have such great
posture.
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| Betcee
gets low, and I try a horizontal
cropping. Okay, now looking at these
images afterwards, I figure that the lighting
is just off enough to be mismatched.
Let's call it "close but no cigar". |
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Again, Betcee manages
to "cheat" her face a little towards the main light &
pulls it off with her natural grace.
I guess that, at
the moment, I realized that it wasn't quite right because I didn't
make too many exposures with this setup. We try something
different.
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Let
me orientate you. That
window in the back is the
south facing window that was
providing the light for the
first images of this
sitting. The couch is a
good one, but I usually push
it into the next room (the
dining room) to make space for
my temporary
studio.
I
have mixed feelings about this
couch. It's interesting
because it's slightly curved,
so that people sitting at
either end of the couch can
face each other without
straining their necks.
But it's size & shape are
just a tad small for a tall
guy like myself to use to lie
down on.
Normally,
the couch is positioned to the
right more, so that it's back
extends the little hallway a
bit, but for today, I have it
moved back.
I'm
still using the strobes.
In fact, you can see the plug
to the power pack there in the
image.
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| I
think that Betcee has a 1940s Hollywood glamour
look about her. Again, the idea was to
let her nudity be incidental -- I wanted to
focus on her face. This light is much
better on her face. In retrospect, the
setup is a bit "empty" &
artificial, but I like looking at Betcee,
especially with this light. |
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I try a horizontal
arrangement.
We are getting a
bit of wide angle distortion: Betcee's feet look tiny &
distant. And again, that area behind Betcee looks empty.
The shadows there are fairly deep, especially since that area around
the mirror is far from the light source.
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So,
I add a uplight for the
mirror, to add a little visual
interest there.
A
couple of additional
observations:
I
moved the power pack's plug to
another wall plug, so that
that wire doesn't distract me.
I
must be hand holding the
digital camera. I can
tell because I don't always
hold it perfectly
vertically. Sure, I can
use my editing software to
rotate the image a couple of
degrees & thereby make
that picture rail perfectly
horizontal, but why bother?
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| I'll
reiterate my inclination to use a tripod, even
when using a strobe. By using a tripod,
you can be careful to set up the image
(including making sure the image is perfectly
horizontal or vertical). Then, when you
are ready to make the exposure, you can look
at the model & not at the camera.
With my eye problems, I can't use the camera's
viewfinder. Instead, I'm looking at the
tilting/pivoting LCD screen to choose when to
release the shutter, and that means I'm not
even looking in the model's direction. |
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I try an
alternative cropping. The couch is actually a deep purple, and it
just doesn't register well in B&W photography.
Somewhere around this
time, I realize that I've been hypnotized by Betcee's eyes. That's a
trap that I fall into on occasion (and I'm not alone) -- we get lost in
the moment & forget to strive for improvements & refinements.
So, anyhow, both Betcee
& I start to move around a bit more shortly.
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figure that Betcee is a bit too covered when I
used the previous angles. I move around,
and I ask Betcee to move around, so that we
can see that she is nude. Because I
can. |
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| Lately,
I've been enjoying these kinds of pictures,
where it is clear that the model is nude, but
you really can't see too much of the model's
juicy bits. I've got to admit that I
find these images exciting, and the sultry
look on Betcee's face just adds to the image.
Looking
at this image, I figure it's not up to snuff
technically. To my eye (i.e. on my
monitor), it lacks a little pop (i.e. is a tad
low contrast). I'm beginning to feel
that my monitor isn't very well calibrated, so
I really can't tell whether I've gotten the
brightness & contrast right.
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ask Betcee to dangle her left leg over the
side of the couch, and I'm glad I did.
It does nice things to Betcee's lovely butt
& makes her look sleek & slim.
Part of being a nude photographer is
anticipating how changes in a pose can impact
the overall image. Try stuff -- not
everything will work as expected, but it's all
worth trying. |
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| One
last image for this setup, where Betcee raises
herself up a bit. Still yummy. |
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