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I admit that
I spend a good amount of time on the Internet looking at
nude pictures of lovely women; most of the time, I'm looking
at on-line modeling web sites. While there are many "on-line
models", not all models are at the same level.
The top on-line models work a lot, and they travel a lot.
In the past, I've had the pleasure of working with several
of these top traveling models, including (but not limited
to) Betcee May, Yulia, Natalia, and Victoria.
So, I've
been a fan of Carlotta for a long time. She has traveled
the world, posing for many highly skilled photographers &
creating an incredible collection of wonderful images.
When I got word that she was coming through town, I immediately
asked for a sitting.
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This wasn't
a typical sitting for me. I invited Jessica to photograph
Carlotta with me -- in fact, I wanted Jessica to come up
with & execute her own concepts, too. As a result,
I only put together two concepts of my own.
This
was the first. It's a variation of the "Close
Canyon" concept that I first did with Natalia --
this time, however, I buried an extra light in the corner
behind the backdrop.
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Okay,
let's be honest -- Carlotta has one of the most breathtaking
figures I've ever seen. I'm not normally comfortable
talking about women's bodies, but look at her. She
has full, naturally, shapely breasts, a narrow waist, &
perfect hips. On top of all that, Carlotta is very
experienced & knows how to show off her figure.
It takes
a while to fine-tune the lighting here -- in particular,
it was a challenge to position the light behind the backdrop
correctly (in this image, you can see the wire leading to
the flash head). It was even more of a challenge to
take my eyes off of Carlotta's spectacular figure so that
I could check out the other details. Jessica had to
help.
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The space is
confining -- Carlotta's hands are on opposite walls.
For many models, that's a challenge, but not for Carlotta
-- she finds ways to fill the space with natural gestures.
Carlotta worked with minimal direction. I explained
the overall concept, and I showed her an exposure or two
on the digital camera's LCD screen, and that's all she needed.
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It actually
took us a few iterations to get the behind-the-backdrop
light positioned well.
Something
that I think about during each sitting: change perspectives.
Carlotta & I get a little bit closer to the floor.
On a
separate note: although I've shared models with other
photographers before, it was difficult to do so this time:
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I have only one set of Pocket Wizards, meaning that
only one photographer can be working with the strobes
at any time.
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The space here was tight, so there weren't too many
spots for Jessica to stand & observe.
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The youthful Jessica was excited & anxious for her
turn.
We managed,
but I'm not sure either of us were overly satisfied.
Still, Jessica's energy was a great help in getting the
details right.
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I don't think
I can find a position or pose where Carlotta looks less
than spectacular. |
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I get the impression
that most of Carlotta's assignments are of the "glamour"
genre, but casual & comfortable poses like this are
better suited for fine art. Carlotta is certainly
versatile. |
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I think I still
have work to do to perfect this lighting. I like the
addition of the light in the corner behind the backdrop,
but the down light is still a little harsh. I like
for the models to have eye contact with the camera, but
this particular lighting isn't good for that -- when the
model looks directly at the camera, her eyes are in shadow.
The main
light is a small-ish soft box suspended on a boom above
the model. Maybe I should use a bigger soft box?
It's difficult, because the soft box is on the end of a
large boom arm on top of a light stand that is on a landing
on the back stairs. Everything is balanced precariously.
Then again, solving problems like this one is central to
the production of good images.
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Okay -- a little
diversion for some tech talk. I've been including
more color pictures in my sets. Truth be told, I still
much prefer the monotones -- I'm especially fond of my pseudo-sepia
tones. But I'm not opposed to the occasional color
image. Here's one.
Hmmm
-- although this is a color image, there really isn't a
wide variety of colors in this image. The actual scene
was pretty monochromatic. So, for this set at least,
I'll stick to mostly the sepia toned images.
However,
while we are diverted -- I am beginning to use RAW images
more. In fact, this is the first set where I made
a RAW image of every exposure. As it turned out, on
my old PC, my old photo-editing software couldn't handle
the RAW images from my camera, but when I got my new computer,
I upgraded my software, and the new software could handle
the RAW images. Also, the new computer is considerably
faster than the old one -- it does take a little bit longer
to process the RAW images, but the quality is significantly
better, so it's a worthwhile trade-off.
I did
this at the urging of Jessica. She told me, "once
you go RAW, you'll never go back". She was right.
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It is a measure
of Carlotta's abilities as a model that she can continuously
find new poses & shapes. This setup is admittedly
confining, but Carlotta keeps moving and finds ways to show
off her figure. |
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By all accounts, Carlotta
is impressive. Besides being a knockout, she is experienced &
skilled at presenting herself well. She is prepared, needs minimal
direction, and full of ideas.
Okay
-- the space is confining, and Carlotta can't move around all that much,
but I can. Take a look:
This sitting
continues with Claustrophobic, Page
2.
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