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| The great thing about third
sessions is that we can throw out the rule book & go
crazy. For no good reason, I put the camera on the
floor & pointed it up, and I like Keira as the attack
of the 50 ft. woman. This is a transitional image,
because I could see right away that I didn't like seeing
the top of my favorite backdrop -- an 8' x 20' painted canvas
background that was attached to the picture rail with clips.
I decide right away to take down the backdrop. As
you will see right away, the perspective is skewed, and
the image is more confusing by the coved ceiling (i.e. the
joining of the top of the wall to the ceiling is a curve). |
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For those who
are interested in such details, here's some technical information
on these images:
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The lighting is strobes with semi-harsh modifiers (6"
reflectors). Both strobes are high and are pointed
directly at Keira. One is to the left of the camera
(see the shadow on the wall), and the other is to the
right, close to that back wall & pointing almost
forward (see the highlight to Keira's hair.
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The ceiling lights are on just to illuminate the light
itself -- if they weren't on, those lights would be
black spots. The strobes dominate the lighting
of the image -- those ceiling lights aren't really contributing
any significant light to the image.
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You can get a sense of the coved ceiling by the curve
above the picture rail on the left side of the image.
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The camera lens is wide angle, roughly 24mm for a 35mm
camera. I could stand it to be even wider.
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When you point the camera mostly "up", concepts
like vertical & horizontal become less important.
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I have a
little device that attaches to my camera's viewfinder
and projects the camera's view onto a small LCD screen.
In my case, the LCD is attached to the camera via a
10 ft. long cable, so a) I didn't have to put my head
through the floor, and b) I was somewhat comfortable.
And given
the feel of these images, Keira moves wonderfully.
And yes,
I still do "artistic effect" editing...
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So, who is
R. Crumb?
Check out his official web site.
In short,
R. Crumb was the best artist and a central figure in the
underground comics scene in the 60's & 70's, and he
still is active today. He is noted for strong pen
work & interesting characters. One of my favorites
was Mr. Natural, and he was always drawn with huge feet &
legs and small head & hands. R. Crumb's perspective
is all imagined, and it works for his drawings. For
me, this low angle perspective with a wide angle lens yields
large feet & small head. Hence, these images remind
me of R. Crumb.
I also
hate to say this, but doesn't Keira's butt look scrumptious
in this picture?
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Here's a favorite
from this setup. It's so weird & unusual.
I like how the shadow defines Keira's form (and how her
breast peeks out into the light.
Keira's
figure looks great from any angle or in any pose.
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Admittedly,
posing for these images are very challenging for Keira.
She tries joining me on the floor, and I immediately don't
like it. By coming onto the floor, the camera loses
its weird perspective and the wide angle distortions that
I like. So, Keira doesn't stay down here with me for
long.
But that's
what happens during a session -- we figure out an overall
concept, we explore the concept, we push beyond the limits,
and so forth. We try things, we embrace some ideas &
abandon others.
But I
appreciate models who try as many ideas as possible.
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| Here's a concept that might
warrant revisiting. I like how Keira's figure is defined
by the shadow's edge. We got to figure out a way to
do this better. |
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This is how
my ideas usually take form. When thinking about a
model I know, I usually start with a certain lighting concept
and/or a perspective, and I wonder how that setup would
work with that model. When the model is here, we see
if I can setup the lighting as I envisioned it, and then
we explore the concept. I should mention that the
model's creativity contributes greatly -- I don't like telling
a model how to pose or how to move. I prefer to explain
the overall concept and explain what I'm looking for.
It's her job to figure out how to fill the space, and it's
my job to give the model feedback. With the best models,
like Keira, this is easy & fun. |
Keira's Bonus Pictures
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