Translucent Top & Hat

Here's a surprise -- during her junior year abroad, Jessica got a tattoo on the inside of her left wrist.

Actually, she told me about the tattoo soon after she got it. She knew how I feel about tattoos.

I'm going to attempt to confine my comments about her tattoo in the next few paragraphs only.

One of the reasons I dislike tattoos in photographs is that they draw your eye, even if they are only partially visible. I am observant, and I notice that marking on her wrist. That tattoo isn't contributing to the image, and the viewer might wonder exactly what that is.

Here's a close-up of the tattoo. It's a heart over or pierced by an anchor, with a banner that reads "courage"; in addition, there's a bit of a brown haze around some of the edges. I think the haze looks like a bruise.

I've got to admit that there's a lot about tattoos that I don't understand. For example, why do people tend to get tattoos on parts of their body that they can't see (like their shoulder blades or their lower back). To her credit, Jessica's tattoo, on the inside of her left wrist, is on one of the few parts of her body that she can view entirely. However, when Jessica bends her elbow & brings her tattoo to her face, the banner reading "courage" would appear upside down to her. Why? Because her tattoo artist says it's traditional. Why the anchor? Same answer. What's with the brown haze? Same answer. All of which makes me wonder how much of the tattoo is Jessica & how much is her tattoo artist?

Another reason I don't like tattoos is that I feel like I'm photographing someone else's art.

Okay -- the tattoo will pop up in future images, but I don't want to talk about it any more.

In the end, the tattoo is somewhat small, and there are poses that we can use to hide it from the camera's lens.

What a marvelous figure Jessica has!

Here's something that happens to me once in a while.

Most photographers are trained to fill their viewfinder with their intended image, making use of as much of the image surface area as possible.

But I "cut my teeth" on a rangerfinder camera -- it's viewfinder wasn't exactly accurate. So, I got in the habit of stepping back a bit, including more in the image on the negative and cropping down to the best image.

Every once in a while, I "see" a picture within the original picture -- I see an interesting cropping. Here's a case in point -- what would this original image here on the right look like if I crop it closer, cropping out Jessica's jeans. Look below to see the answer.

Here's an especially alluring image of Jessica. The one below ain't half bad either.

Photographing nudes can be a challenge -- often, a lighting setup that's good for the face isn't good for the figure, and vice versa. Here's one of these situation where the light works well for both face & figure.

As a fellow photographer, I'm taking the time to collaborate with Jessica more than I typically do when I hire a model. I'm showing her many of the images on the digital camera's LCD screen, and we are making decisions together.

We like this light -- it's unusual, and the shadows are pretty fun. We decide to change the setup slightly by changing her clothing.

Here's a transition photo, and I really, really like it. It's a semi-unguarded moment, and it has the feel of an old master painting.

Here's the outfit we settled on, a form fitting translucent tank top & nothing else. I figure that if you want to produce sexy pictures of a woman, you need to photographer her semi- or nearly nude: you've got to engage the viewer's brain. A fully nude picture doesn't leave anything to the imagination.

So, we have a bit of fun.

Don't ask. All I can say is that we have fun during these sittings.

You'll recall that I'm using three flash heads (on either side & above the camera position). I should mention that each strobe head's light isn't radically modified. In the previous images, I believe that there are grids on each head's reflector to semi-focus the light. For these images here, I've removed the grids, and that creates more distinct shadows. If Jessica stands a little bit away from the back wall, we create interesting overlapping shadows.

I like this effect.

I like that the white tank top covers without concealing.

I think these are very sexy pictures.

I like this image, above; in particular, there is a very sophisticated & adult look on Jessica's face. I decide to try a few more digital variations on it. More variations of this image will appear in the Out Takes.

One last picture for this page. Keeping with the theme of "trying new things", this pose is somewhat new for both of us, where Jessica is back against the wall & leaning forward towards the camera. Coupled with the somewhat harsh lighting, I think this works really well.

This pictures works for me -- that intense look on Jessica's face shows an intense connection, that top reveals her stellar figure, and her bottomless-ness is exciting. I am proud of this image.

I've got to admit that it's a lot different photographing a friend & fellow photographer. We have similar visual tastes, and we are working at a languid pace & producing new & interesting images.

This sitting continues with The Hat & the Comfy Chair.