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Okay,
we are rolling! I wanted to
demonstrate to Jessica that the
strobe's flash duration is very short
(1/3000th of a second, in fact).
I have done some movement photography
lately (for example, Ashton's
Hair Dance), and I figured we'd do
something similar.
| Jessica
is quite athletic. In
fact, she used to play rugby
at school. When she told
me that, I raised my eyebrow,
to which she pointed out that
rugby teams do need some agile
players, too.
So,
the lighting setup really
hasn't changed at this
point. I drag over one
of my little benches, maybe 16
inches tall, and ask Jessica
to jump off of it. What
results are some of the best
images of the
sitting. |
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I
have a tendency (shared with
other photographers?): I
assume that in order to
achieve a perfect image, I
need to have total
control. I'm here to
say, not true! Sure, I
set up the concept, the
lighting, and the instructions
to the model, but once done,
control is relinquished to
happenstance.
In
particular, it's really,
really difficult to time the
shutter perfectly.
That's especially true with
the digital camera, which has
a modest delay between
pressing the shutter release
button and the actual shutter
release. Sure, I'm just
about scientific enough to
figure out how to rig an
electronic shutter release
triggered by Jessica's motion,
but get real. Instead, I
ask Jessica to climb up on
the bench (which you can
barely see here) and jump down
onto the hardwood floor in her
bare feet. She does this
a lot. We make lots of
exposures, but the reject rate
is high. |
Jessica
is flying!
This is so ethereal -- it's a
favorite. Can you tell that her
feet don't touch the ground?
| One
piece of advice I often give
to other photographers is that
they should engage their
models' brains. Jessica
is greatly focused for these
pictures, look at her. |
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For
the first several of these
pictures, Jessica basically
stepped off the bench &
landed on the floor. For
these initial images, her legs
were straight. I ask
Jessica to kick up her heels
and bend her knees a
bit. She gives it a try. |
| "Higher!"
Jessica is game, and gives me
this image, a favorite from
the sitting. I love the
determination on her face, the
shape of her figure, and the
shape of the shadow on the
wall. I love how she
threw her arms out to either
side.
It's
interesting. A patron to
this site commented that I've
come full circle.
Several years ago, I did some
lovely dance
photographs in which I
used very long exposures (up
to 90 seconds). In fact,
I consider some of those to be
among the best I've ever done.
Nowadays, I'm doing movement
pictures, but I'm utilizing
the short flash duration to
freeze the movement. Two
sides to the same coin. |
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