Kira Beth, Above Lit

If I remember correctly, I had originally thought about throwing Kira into the shower & getting her wet, but the towel tossing setup took longer than I thought. That's okay -- I usually have more concepts planned than we have time (and in my case, stamina) for. So, Plan B -- I wanted to light Kira from above. I thought this kind of light, with Kira's slim & defined figure, would work well. For a little variety, I added another light on the floor pointed at the back wall, giving that glow behind Kira's hips. The wire to this floor light is hidden behind the backdrop.

It takes a little while to fine tune the lights -- it's real easy to get a little too much flare, especially at the top of the image.

Y'know, I've got to get away from these "lit from above" images -- it's occasionally nice on a figure, but it's brutal on the model's face. Some models really don't like this kind of light, because if there is the tiniest flaw, it'll show (fortunately, Kira is flawless). Still, I've got to modify this somehow, to improve the light on the model's face.

I am finding these images of this setup to be instructive. There are a few (like this one) that I like, but I am not overly satisfied by these images.
Why is that? I think my tastes are evolving, and I am now more interested in natural gestures, as opposed to "fine art" lighting & poses. Other than posing for "fine art" photographs, there is no reason for Kira to me on the bath mat under that light. I think I like this image because her pose & gestures feel a bit more natural.

I think it looks even better with the "brush strokes" effect (below).

We had a lovely time -- this was one of the most pleasant sittings I've ever had, and I'm quite happy with the results. We made some fine images, and we had some situations that will inspire me to raise the bar higher. What more can you want?