Page
created July 27, 2005
Sitting date: June 24, 2005
When Yulia & I agreed to work together, I knew that I wanted to try at least one setup to refine that studio up light scheme (previous page), and I wanted to develop a setup to take advantage of Yulia's unusual hair.
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I
wanted to figure out a way to
light Yulia's crazy curly
hair. Here's a digital
test image. The changes: I
tend to crumple up the canvas
backdrop between sittings,
because I like the wrinkle
texture. How the light
hits the backdrop is very
significant -- here, all the
lights skim the backdrop from
the sides & the top,
thereby creating wrinkle
shadows. If the lighting
was flatter (i.e. if the light
sources were closer to the
camera position), those
shadows would have been
reduced. A
solution is to turn her face
towards one of the light
sources, as is done here. I
don't photograph models' backs
often enough. I really
like women's backs, but my style
is to have a conversation with
the model during the sitting,
and as a natural consequence,
she tends to be facing me.
I'm aware of this & on my
mental "checklist" for
a sitting includes ensuring that
I make some exposures like this
one. Do
we like how this lighting
highlights Yulia's crazy curly
hair? Keep
tuned -- some fabulous back
pictures are coming!
Another
side by side comparison of a
digital (left) and film (right)
image. I definitely like
the film image. Yulia has
a wonderfully lovely back, and I
particularly like the
"architecture" of her
shoulder blade. In
fact, at the moment, I was
working with the film camera,
and this was one of those
times when I knew, just knew,
that we had created an image
destined to be a
favorite. I was so
excited, I asked Yulia to
repeat the pose for a digital
exposure (below).
Both
these images are film based. I
try to devote at least part of
each sitting to working on my
weaknesses. One of my
weaknesses is that I'm much
better at photographing vertical
models as opposed to horizontal
models. I invite Yulia to
the floor, so that we can try to
make some images, like this one,
above.
One
final image from this sitting,
this time in color. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I have to admit that Yulia wore me out! By the end of the sitting, I was pooped. Yulia left the sitting with me for another sitting, and I ran upstairs to look at the digital images from the sitting. I was greatly pleased. These images are much better than my typical first sitting with a new-to-me model work. A tiny little bit had to do with meeting & talking to Yulia at my party and a lot to do with Yulia's experience & skill as a model. I was even able to print a few 4x6 prints before Yulia returned from her other sitting -- it's always nice to surprise someone with something that they didn't expect. I look forward to working with her again, very soon.
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(Remember -- feedback is always appreciated)
All images (c) 2005 Looknsee Photography |
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