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The Portland area is
just perfect for me. Photographically, it is a
beautiful city, and we are blessed to be a frequent
destination for lovely traveling models. We also
have an active artistic community, and many of the local
photographers communicate frequently, sharing resources,
locations, references, and recommendations.
Olivia here is an experienced
traveling model, skilled at many genres, including
fashion, swimsuit, lingerie, and art posing (although
her on-line portfolio features lifestyle & fashion
pictures).
Previously, she had worked with
a few other local photographers, and she consistently
got rave reviews -- it's rare that local photographers
are proactive with such feedback. So, when Olivia
scheduled a trip through town, I asked to work with her,
pretty much sight unseen.
First impression: she is
very, very attractive. What you can't "see" here
is that she has a vivacious personality to boot.
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I suspect that I will
start nearly every photo session with my "Getting
Started" setup, where a model starts clothed & then
removes her clothing until she is nude. It's a
slow way of getting started, and I am fascinated by the
transformation from a woman you might see on the street
into a fine art nude model. I like seeing what
models choose as their starting outfit and how they
remove their clothing. It's magic.
I assume that nearly all of the women agreeing to
pose for me take a glance at my web site. I tell
models about this concept (and the others I'd like to
try with them) well in advance of our scheduled session.
So, this is what Olivia chose for our "Getting Started"
setup.
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I have to admit that I started enjoying my time with
Olivia right away, and I was happy to bask in the beauty of
her lovely face. For many models, "getting started"
feels a bit awkward, and I have to encourage them to start
removing clothing. Olivia was ready quite early.
When she lifted her shirt to reveal her lovely abdomen, she
took my breath away. From this point on, we worked
towards her nudity.
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I think Olivia might be the most versatile poser of
all the models I have known. She can be the "girl
next door" or she can be the seductress or she can be
the art model. I suspect that the "Getting
Started" setup makes her feel sexy & sultry, and she
does it well.
In the warmer months, the corner of the living room,
where the big comfy chair normally resides, gets very
nice afternoon light, as you can see here. I help
it a bit with that lamp behind Olivia, to provide a
tonal separation with her shaded side.
However, I hate to admit this, but I often work with
the camera set with the "P" setting, allowing the camera
to set the exposure (and adjusting when needed during
photo editing). This normally makes me feel lazy,
because I've often said that a photographer should never
let a camera make a decision for him/her. But here
in the Pacific Northwest, the sky is constantly
changing, even during the summer, and trying to keep up
with these changes would interrupt the flow. For
me, working with models means communicating with the
model, and I hate seeing some photographers split
attention with their camera. Indeed, some
photographers snap a picture, and spend some valuable
time staring at their camera's LCD screen while the
model is left to her own devices. That's one
reason I like working with strobes -- they provide
constant light, so once you've worked out the lighting &
exposure, you can devote 100% of your attention to your
model.
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I don't know if this is
an accident or a manifestation of Olivia's skill as a
model, but this is one sexy picture. I have to
admit that I'm approaching an age where I'm about as old
as most models' grandfathers,
and I am simply not a slave to my hormones as I was in
my youth. But I'm not dead yet. Olivia has
the kind of figure that I find attractive, and I
especially like how that direct expression on her face
peeks out from the shadows. On top of all that
(not pictured here), she has a vibrant, funny, and fun
personality.
I know I repeat myself in the
commentaries from session to session, but because of how
I learned photography, I often look for interesting
cropping when I edit the photos. While Olivia's
figure is stunning, I found her lovely face to be the
most compelling part of this photo. Hence, the
cropping below, and while I was at it, I tried several
of my favorite "artistic effects", too, including my new
favorite, the "airbrush & ink". Enjoy.
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I like it when a session can be fun, and Olivia
is a firecracker of expressive humor. Here are a
couple of shirt tossing images. While I hate fake
smiles, I love real ones, and it's always great to feel that
the model is having a good time playing with me.
Of course, the control freak in me doesn't like these
images because of the blur (necessitated by the slow shutter
that I needed to use for the relatively low light level
coming through the window. But in my own age, I've
become quite willing to sacrifice top quality controls for
spontaneity.
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I do love this pose. I love the excellent posture, the
arms down, the slight jog in her spine, and the wide stance
-- she looks so strong in this pose. I don't like
telling models to adopt a specific pose -- anytime I (or any
other photographer) tries to micro-manage a model's
pose, the more the pose looks artificial & forced. I
much prefer that a model move naturally, and I hope I'm fast
enough to press the shutter at the perfect moment. And
that is an advantage of my old, fully manual film cameras --
there is no lag when the shutter is pressed. In
digital cameras, the ones which make decisions for the
photographer, there always is a lag while the camera focuses
the camera & calculates exposure. When using strobes &
the digital camera, I can override the exposure calculation,
but my eyesight is poor enough that I need that autofocus.
But if the distance between the model & the camera remains
constant, I can continue to use previous focus settings. |
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Olivia isn't teasing me
-- she is moving through this setup at a good pace.
I'm just making a lot of exposures, because she is
showing me so much that I want to photograph. Her
face is perfect; her figure is perfect; the light is
perfect, and her movement is perfect. We start to
get more serious.
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Like many experienced models, Olivia is quite
comfortable in her skin. I find that her looks are
quite intensely distracting. While I am enjoying
the images we are making, I'm not sure we are making
fine art.
That's one downside to the "Getting Started" is that
it is a bit of a tease for me -- the anticipation of the
moment is a big contribution to the appeal for me.
Below: I really like this image. I like
the jog in her spine; I like that she is covering
herself; and I like her engaged expression.
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Olivia goes acrobatic for the
final article of clothing, demonstrating that she looks
good from any angle. I like this image because
there is action, her hands are doing something, and the
light is very good.
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Here's another cropping exercise. The image at the
above left is close to the original, full-frame image,
and the above right image is a preferred cropping.
I like reducing an image down to its essential parts --
I guess, for this image, I didn't find Olivia's feet
"essential". I also want to look at some "artistic
effects" versions. |
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I've had the opportunity to observe how other
photographers manage their photo session, and their
"shooting style" varies greatly. In particular, I
like to see how the photographer moves around their
subject. Some are very energetic, jumping all
around, getting down on the floor, climbing ladders --
it can make me dizzy.
For me, "energetic" stopped decades ago, but before I
finish with a setup, I do sing a little litany to
myself: "up, down, left, right, near, far", which
is a reminder that I should look at multiple angles &
compositions. I tend not to run around the model,
because nowadays, I first consider the light, and I
often choose a specific angle to the light for the
optimal lighting of the subject.
So, here, I try "far" -- admittedly by zooming out to
the max wide angle my lens can handle. I like this
image a lot. I love the light, and that includes
not only the lovely window light but also the glow of
the unseen lamp on the wall behind Olivia; it defines
the shape of Olivia's unlit left side. I also like
Olivia's strong pose. And I also like how the wide
angle gives you the viewer a sense of the scene in that
corner of the living room.
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