Light From Above

When I was living in California, I had a room devoted to studio work. It wasn't big enough, but it did have advantages. Chief among these was the fact that I didn't have to set things up & put them away for each sitting -- I just left the last lighting setup up. But another advantage is that I had a boom arm installed at the top of a wall, allowing me to put a light above the model -- this was great for hair lights. The boom was sturdy enough to accept a light with a soft box, creating soft down light, somewhat like a skylight, which I've always felt was lovely.

Now, I do have an extra sturdy light stand which accepts a boom arm, but I've got to admit that I don't use the boom much. Even though the light stand is sturdy, it's a little precarious with the boom arm on -- it has to be balanced with a counter weight, and even so, I'm always afraid that it'll tip over on top of the model.

But, since I'm showing Jessica a range of possibilities for her sitting, I risk it.

Jessica liked this lighting enough to use something similar for her first setup when she photographed Leona. A couple of tips for using this lighting:

It's good to put the light up as high as possible; thus tall ceilings are beneficial.
It's also a good idea to put the model low, on the floor. That way, there isn't a lot of difference between the intensity of the light on her head versus the light that strikes her feet.
Light placement is critical. Change the position of the light just an inch or so, and there is a radical difference in the shadows.
This light is often poor for lighting faces -- have the model cheat her face upwards a bit if this bothers you.

One challenge of this lighting is to avoid heavy shadows. Because of that, I often ask the model to tilt her head back a bit.

Before we go on, I should comment a bit about Jessica's sitting with Leona. I recommended Leona for several reasons:

Leona is gorgeous -- that much is obvious.
Leona is reliable -- you can't tell about a model's reliability just by looking at her, but Leona is very dependable, a trait that is much appreciated by me & other photographers.
Leona is so easy to get along with. She is bright, friendly, and enthusiastic.
Leona is greatly supportive of photographers, even beginners.

On the day of Jessica's sitting with Leona, Jessica arrived an hour earlier than Leona. We spent the time moving things around & setting up the first lighting setup. She chose a setup similar to this one, utilizing my big comfy chair; she chose to set it up in the dining room instead of my living room.

We kept busy. It took us a while to set things up. Good thing, because I think Jessica was a little nervous & excited. That's okay -- truth be told, I get a little nervous & excited right before a sitting, too. That's one of the reasons I like punctual models.

During Jessica's sitting with Leona, I tried very hard to stay out of the way -- I restricted myself to helping Jessica with the technical aspects of the sitting. For example, I remember her looking at her "light from above" setup and asking for a bit more shadows across Leona's figure -- I reached up & pushed the boom arm an inch further back. Problem solved.

It was somewhat tough staying out of the way. I kept thinking "I wouldn't do it that way" or "wow, that's a good idea that I wish she'd expand" or "isn't it time for her to move on" or "what is she looking at" or "gosh, she found some terrific lighting".

But the truth is that I have great respect for Jessica's innate photographic abilities. Here I have decades more experience than she does, and I feel that she's already a peer of mine aesthetically. There's not much I can teach her about seeing; she already has a terrific eye.

One habit of mine has contributed greatly to my development as a photographer -- I look at a lot of pictures, and I analyze them to a good degree. I especially try to figure out how images were lit & how the photographer set up the image with his/her models.

I believe that nude photographic artists go through common evolutionary steps or plateaus:

Level 0: Beginners are happy just to photograph someone without clothes.
Level 1: Photographing an interesting person without clothes. ("Interesting" does not necessarily mean "beautiful").
Level 2: Photographing an interesting nude person using interesting lighting. (I'm here most often.)
Level 3a: Photographing an interesting nude person in interesting light doing interesting things. (I'm here sometimes.)
Level 3b: Photographing an interesting nude person in interesting light in an interesting setting.
Level 4: Photographing an interesting nude person, in interesting light, in an interesting setting, doing interesting things.
Level 5: All of the above, telling a story.

After Jessica's sitting with Leona, I wrote up a little critique for her. The essence was...

She has a terrific aesthetic eye; she finds interesting shapes in interesting light.
In fact, she has everything she needs to become an exceptional photographer except experience.
Her technical skills could be improved, but that's easy. If I had to choose between having an aesthetic sense or technical skills, I'd choose the aesthetic. Anyone can learn the technical skills; only a special few have the aesthetic vision.

I haven't given you a digital versus film, side-by-side comparison in a while, so here's one.

Digital

Film

My assessment: I'm getting better at getting tonality out of digital images, but film still blows away digital's quality. The film images are still simply sharper (better optics?), and I'm still better able to get a full range of tonality out of the medium.

So, my advice to myself & Jessica:

Keep the model engaged in the sitting. You can't just photograph a model who is just sitting or standing around.
One's technical skills need to be sufficient to carry the aesthetic message.
You should analyze pictures all the time; figure out how they were made & what you'd do differently.
There is no substitute for experience, so practice, practice, practice.

Here's a few images of Leona made by Jessica a few days later:

Jessica with Leona.

As I was writing this, I got a call from Jessica, to thank me for a birthday gift I had sent her. (I sent her a portfolio for her prints). Great to hear from her! She's looking for a name/title for her honors project; we discussed it, but I don't think we came up with anything yet.

One final note: after Jessica's first visit, I put together a Digital Variations page to demonstrate some digital enhancements and modifications I had found here & there. During this year, I've learned a lot about controlling digital enhancements, and I've semi-permanently settled on adding sepia toning to all my images. Anyhow, here is that original 2003 "Digital Variations" page, and here is a new 2004 "Digital Variations" page. Enjoy.

Whew! Jessica wears me out! We had great, great fun. We made a set of wonderful images during her sitting with me; she made a bunch of wonderful images during her sitting with Leona, and we had great fun playing with my photographic toys. We even had fun going out to dinner (to a Jamaican restaurant around the corner). We talked about everything, and I feel that we got to know each other much better. She is such a joy!