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Before
I leave the basic lighting
from the Studio
Up Light setup, I move in
close to have some fun with
the digital camera's ability
to give me unusual angles
(utilizing the pivoting LCD
screen for framing exposures)
and its very wide angle lens
distortion. |
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I
ask Yulia to give me a
"don't touch" hand
gesture. I had to
encourage her to bring her hand
really, really close to the
lens. Here, her hand is
just a couple of inches away
from the digital camera.
Maybe
this isn't "high art",
but I think these images are
lots of fun.
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The
low & wide angle
exposures, above, were simply
a momentary diversion.
Here's the setup I had in mind
for the next series of
exposures.
I
wanted to figure out a way to
light Yulia's crazy curly
hair. Here's a digital
test image. The changes:
 | The
up light is now a down
light, positioned above
& behind Yulia,
intended to highlight her
hair. |
| The
canvas backdrop has been
added. |
| A
second soft box light is
added, so that there are
soft boxes to either side
of the model. |
I
tend to crumple up the canvas
backdrop between sittings,
because I like the wrinkle
texture. How the light
hits the backdrop is very
significant -- here, all the
lights skim the backdrop from
the sides & the top,
thereby creating wrinkle
shadows. If the lighting
was flatter (i.e. if the light
sources were closer to the
camera position), those
shadows would have been
reduced.
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Take
a look at that test image
above. I find that
sometimes I wind up designing a
lighting scheme that is terrific
for figures but less than
terrific for faces, and that's
the case above. When Yulia
faces me, the sides of her face
are lit, but there is a bit of
shadow right down the middle of
her face.
A
solution is to turn her face
towards one of the light
sources, as is done here.
I
don't photograph models' backs
often enough. I really
like women's backs, but my style
is to have a conversation with
the model during the sitting,
and as a natural consequence,
she tends to be facing me.
I'm aware of this & on my
mental "checklist" for
a sitting includes ensuring that
I make some exposures like this
one.
Do
we like how this lighting
highlights Yulia's crazy curly
hair?
Keep
tuned -- some fabulous back
pictures are coming!
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Another
side by side comparison of a
digital (left) and film (right)
image. I definitely like
the film image. Yulia has
a wonderfully lovely back, and I
particularly like the
"architecture" of her
shoulder blade. |
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Here's
a favorite from the
sitting. I like Yulia's
muscularity & the side
peek of her breast. Her
posture was great.
In
fact, at the moment, I was
working with the film camera,
and this was one of those
times when I knew, just knew,
that we had created an image
destined to be a
favorite. I was so
excited, I asked Yulia to
repeat the pose for a digital
exposure (below). |
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I
really like this one, too -- in
fact, I think I like it a bit
more. In this case, the
lower contrast gives us a bit
more of a glimpse of Yulia's
face, and a subtle change in the
position of her right arm
changed the shadow on her face. |
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Both
these images are film based.
I've been noticing that I like
the base of the neck & the
shoulders of a fit model like
Yulia. I also notice that
I usually don't do close up body
parts photography, something I'm
going to need to do soon. |
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I
try to devote at least part of
each sitting to working on my
weaknesses. One of my
weaknesses is that I'm much
better at photographing vertical
models as opposed to horizontal
models. I invite Yulia to
the floor, so that we can try to
make some images, like this one,
above. |
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Yulia
has too much energy to lie
down during a sitting.
She moves around on the floor,
and I make a variety of
exposures. |
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Here's
a secret -- don't tell
Yulia: I get nervous about
skin on this floor. This
is the original wood floor of
the house, some 115 years
old. Rub against it the
wrong way, and you might wind up
with splinters. I wear
slippers on it year round. |
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One
final image from this sitting,
this time in color. |
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