I should
mention that over the past several sittings, over the past year or so,
I've become more & more dependent on my digital camera. I
like it for the following reasons:
- It is absolutely
terrific to use the digital camera to check exposure. When
working with strobes, what you see is not what you get, because
the strobe light will overpower ambient light.
- I like using the
pivoting, twisting LCD screen to obtain unusual angles, especially
when using the wide angle setting of the digital camera's zoom
lens.
- Immediate
gratification! Also, you can show the model what the image
looks like, so she can make well informed adjustments.
- Over the past
several months, I've got to admit that I've been liking the color
images more & more.
- Creating digital
images is a whole lot less work that developing film, making
prints, and scanning them.
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For
those purists out there, I've
got to say that I still prefer
film & paper, for its
superior quality.
However, here on this
web site, you are not looking
at prints hanging on the wall,
you are looking at digital
images -- some started life on
film & others were born
digital. So, for web
site viewing, there is no
difference in the end quality. |
I start
this set of web pages talking about the digital camera because it is
starting to fail -- specifically, it is unreliable when it comes to
firing off the strobes. It works wonderfully well in other
circumstances. The camera is the Canon Powershot G5, and Canon
does not support using this camera to fire off strobes using a PC Sync
connection. I had been using a Wein
Safe-Sync Hot Shoe Mounted High Voltage Sync Regulator.
Initially, that worked well, but lately it just started to fail. I used to have to fiddle with it, twisting the wire
connection, sliding it off & on the hot shoe connection, etc, and
that got it working, but here, when we were just getting started,
nothing worked.
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I
find it incredibly distracting
when my equipment fails to
perform as expected.
Look! Here we have a
lovely young woman removing
her clothing for us, and all
we can talk about is how the
digital camera fails to fire
off the strobe!!!
See? Distracting! |
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Okay,
let's focus. First the
obvious: Kristin has
large breasts on a slight,
lithe figure. To be
honest, I don't have much
experience working with models
with large breasts, but it is
a challenge that I'm happy to
welcome.
However,
Kristin's real strength as a
model is not her evident
attributes -- it's how
gracefully she moves &
poses. Throughout this
sitting, look at her poses, at
how well she presents
herself. She is very
easy to photograph. |
The
digital camera works intermittently. After Kristin removes her
clothing, we try it again, and snap this image. I love her hand
gesture.
Gestures are very
important in photographing people, and hands are the second most
expressive part of a person's body. Pay attention to them when
photographing people, whether they are clothed or not.
With a digital
exposure under our belts, we can look at the lighting and make
adjustments. I like how there is a contour to the shadow on the
right side of the image. Rather than throw another light on the
left side of Kristin's figure, I decide to throw the off-light into
the shadow on the wall.
That leads us to
our next set up. |
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Kristin
has a unique & interesting look,
and I love the way she poses.
This promises to be a good
sitting. But I hate to admit
that the unreliability of the digital
camera has been distracting
initially. I learned something
-- I've learned that I rely on the
digital camera to "proof"
and adjust my lighting. So, now
that the digital camera is working, I
make some adjustments for the next set
up.
This
sitting continues with Unadorned
Wall.
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