While I was shuffling
furniture around & wrestling with lighting equipment, Brooke got ready, and
she wore this white top while she did so. I can only set up the lights
about 80% without the actual model, so she sat on the couch while I fine tuned
the lighting. (Pay attention to the light on the backdrop -- that's where
I had to fine-tune the lighting). Once again, the digital camera (this is a digital image) was
a great help. With it, I can check the lighting carefully. This was
a late afternoon sitting, and plenty of light was coming into the dining room
around the closed blinds & from the adjacent dining room -- what my eye saw
was quite different than what the cameras "saw", so the instant
gratification offered from the digital camera was invaluable.
Once
I got happy with the lighting, I ask Brooke to get nude.
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Man! Brooke has a fine
figure.
Note the fine tuning of the
lighting -- less light on the backdrop. I like the composition of these
images -- I've been noticing that a lot of my images lately have been cropped to
"golden
rectangle" proportions. But these two, above, are more panoramic
in nature.
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We switch to the film
camera. During Brooke's first sitting, we
produced a digital image that I liked a great lot. Ever since then,
I've been happy to make more digital images (and you'll note that the
"colorized" digital images presented here are more "coppery"
than the film images). In fact, for this sitting, we actually made more
digital exposures than film. I still think that when in comes to B&W
photography, digital images can't approach the quality of film images:
Advantages
& Disadvantages of Digital vs Film Photography |
Advantage
- Digital
-
Immediate
feedback
-
Can
use it to fine tune lighting
-
Can
show model & make posing adjustments
-
Doesn't
require darkroom work
-
Cheaper
-
Faster
|
Advantage
- Film
|
Disadvantage
- Digital
|
Disadvantage
- Film
|
Bottom
Line: Film still wins; quality all important. |
So, if the target
display for a photograph is this web site, I suppose I could move to digital, since
all photographs here are digitized. But I still want to be able to produce
good prints for hanging onto the wall (despite the fact that I rarely do
that). Thus, for me, the digital camera is still a tool that aids my film
photography. And even here on this site -- I think I prefer the film
images appearance.
Enough -- more images:
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I
have to admit that I like second
& third sittings with a
model more than the first
sitting. For a first
sitting, all I'm trying to do is
get acquainted. I want to
see how the model moves, how we
get along, and of course, what
the resulting pictures look
like. My experience is
that even with popular models,
even when I've seen lots of
pictures of a model, our first
time produces images that are
different than the ones I've
seen of her by other
photographers. But for the
second sitting, we have the
first sitting results to build
upon.
I
had a great time with Brooke
during her first sitting (and I
had a great time with her during
this second sitting, too), but
there were a few things I wanted
to work on. One of these
was looking for a more engaged
expression on Brooke's
face. So, you tell me --
did we make improvements? |
During our first sitting, I
noticed (and appreciated) Brooke's small waist when
she was lying down on her back. I ask Brooke to lounge on her belly,
and there it is -- her wonderful waist & that sexy curve along the small of
her back.
(I
have to admit that this sofa is nice to sit on but lousy to lie on. It is
curved slightly, so people sitting at opposite ends can look at each other
without straining their neck, but that makes it awkward to lie on.
However, Brooke pulls it off -- she looks graceful & comfortable.)
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You
know, all the "naughty bits" are covered
in these pictures, yet it is certainly clear that
Brooke is nude. Somehow, at least to me, that
gives these pictures an intimate feel, which in turn
makes these pictures sexy. And, next time with
Brooke, we are definitely going to have to explore
the small of her back more.
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There's
quite a few things I like about these
images. First, there's
Brooke! Also, I like the
exaggerated horizontal cropping of
some of these images. I think
that Brooke did a great job with
engaged expressions on her face,
despite the chaos & distractions
that started this sitting.
Finally, I should definitely consider
adding "real" furniture
& settings into my pictures more
often -- something for future
sittings.
This
sitting continues with Standing
Variations.
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