Page created August 5, 2007
Sitting date:  May 24, 2007

 

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We wander the house, looking for more good light.  At this time of the year, and this late in the afternoon, there's a patch of sunlight on the living room floor.  We had Kira occupy that patch with her lovely self.  I tried a couple of exposures but I didn't like it -- it was too contrasty for my tastes.  Admittedly, once cleaned up with my photo editing software, these are interesting pictures, but we didn't stay here long.  We continued our search throughout the house. 

   

We snapped a quick picture here, under the single skylight in the guest room, at the top of the stairs.  You can see the top of the stairs through the open door, behind Kira's left shoulder.

I liked the glowing light, so I figured we'd stay here for a little while and make a few exposures, but there were some adjustments that needed to be made:

  • I chose to close the door to the top of the stairs, because the light & angles there are too confusing.
  • I didn't want to hand-hold the camera -- I was concerned about slight blurring.  I did have a table top tripod that was just sturdy enough to hold my somewhat bulky camera.
  • I decided that I wanted a lower camera angle.  The camera was set at its widest angle setting (it would have been easy to reach out & touch Kira's hand from my position).  With a lower camera angle, there's be a little less distortion.

 

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Here's the first exposures after I made those adjustments.  With the light coming from the skylight above, I had to ask Kira to "cheat" her face up towards the light a bit.  That, with  the lower camera angle, created an interesting "feel" to these pictures.  So, we were ready. 

 

Kira lamented that she didn't have many pictures of herself clothed, and she didn't have many pictures of her smiling -- she wanted some for her Myspace profile.  So, she donned her blouse again, and we had a little fun.

It's funny to think that she's bottomless in these pictures.  Makes you wonder -- how do you know that the telephone operator isn't nude when you talk to her?

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Okay, I'm feeling playful.  I adjust the camera settings so that the shutter was open for 1/3rd of a second, and I ask Kira to shake her head back & forth.  By putting her hands on the table, these weren't blurred, but there was plenty of movement captured.

Spooky, huh?  We make several purposely blurred exposure. 

 

There are lots more images in the Out Takes gallery.

I ask Kira to remove her top, and we continue to play.  The trick was to try to move only specific parts of her body.  To be successful, it was essential that the camera was on a tripod and that part of Kira's body were "anchored" to something that wouldn't move.  The chair isn't moving.  When Kira rested her arms on the table, that stabilized her all the way up to her shoulder.

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Here, we try keeping everything still except Kira's arms. 

 


 

We move into my office / sitting room.  A couple of weeks earlier, I used this setup with Sylvia, and I liked it, so I thought I'd try it with Kira.  Do note that by now, Kira & I were working at the early evening, several hours later in the day than the Sylvia images.

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Again, the light comes from above, so a minor adjustment to Kira's head position can make a big difference.  It also amazes me how weighty that background appears -- that's really just a gauze that semi-translucent, but because the light strikes the backdrop at an angle, you can't see through it. 

 

I guess I still had the purposely blurred images in mind, and I thought I'd try to get Kira to toss her hair back.

It doesn't quite work.  There's not enough tonal separation between the parts that are in motion and the background.  Let that be a lesson.

And for some reason, I lose interest in this setup.  We move on.

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The objectives of sittings with models changes as I gain experience with the model:

  • The first sitting with a model is typically a "get acquainted" session.  I focus on getting to know the model & seeing how she moves, and I do this by using standard idea.

  • During the second sitting, I start using ideas inspired by my getting to know the model.

  • The third sitting is often my favorite, because by then, I'm generally coming up with ideas inspired by the model's strength.

  • The fourth & fifth sittings are also filled with experimentation.

  • By the seventh sitting, all bets are off -- I've run through the ideas the model has been able to inspire, and by now, we just are winging it.  Hence, the purposely blurred images with Kira.

This sitting concludes with Kira Cornered.

 

(Remember -- feedback is always appreciated) 

All images (c) 2007 Looknsee Photography

Kira #7 Out Takes

Around 70 more images from this sitting are available in the Out Takes Galleries, which are available to those who have made a donation to the upkeep of this web site.  See this FAQ question for more details.

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