maximilian_eheim

Closed inside

Body language

Body language
Read less

Canon EOS 7D

settings

Aperture f/7.1 ISO 160 Shutter 1/250 Focal Length 92/1

upload_date

Aug, 2015

Views

2637

Likes

+377

Awards

Featured

People's Choice in Skin Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Skin Photo Contest

Peer Award

+86

Superb Composition

+47

Absolute Masterpiece

+28

Top Choice

+23

Outstanding Creativity

+12

All Star

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Genius

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

This image has been taken in the backyard at home. I like to shoot in open location because of how simple it is to get a complete dark background. This way I have complete freedom moving the lights around and choosing angles that maybe inside where difficult to pull off.

Time

For two reasons after 9pm. First: my kids are in bed and my wife can pose whitout interference. Second: after 9pm it was dark enough to have a complete dark background.

Lighting

During the shoot I encountered different problems that I had to solve. The biggest issue was for sure the darkness. I did not use a model light and therefore it was difficult to frame the shot. Many test shots had cut off fingers, were not simmetric or simply tilted. Finally the light setup was really simple. I wanted to highlight the silhouette creating high contrast. A simple sandwich setup with the lights positioned slightly behind the model did it.

Equipment

I used my Canon 7d in combination with the EF-S 18-135 IS lens. The lights are flashguns mounted on 80x80cm Softboxes in sandwich setup.

Inspiration

the main inspiration came from a series I saw on different networks called "Bodyscapes". This kind of abstraction with lights and shadows gave me a way to lower my difficulties in finding working poses with a nude model. Since the pose is forced and doesn't want to be natural, we could easily hide unwanted elements and had much more freedom with the pose itself.

Editing

I spend a lot of time with the conversion from color to black and white and the tonesplitting. After the conversion I dodged and burned all the little details that where to flat in the raw image. The skin has been worked whit frequency separation to smooth out inperfections that were highlighted by the flaslights.

In my camera bag

First off all my Canon 7D. I handle my gear whit as much respect as I can, but sometimes the situation can get really rough. Sand, powder, water... you name it, the 7D shoots on. As optics I use carry a Canon EF-S 18-135IS, a Canon EF 50f1.8 and the Canon EF 24-105IS. As lights I like using flashguns like the several Yongnuo products. Maybe they are not as reliable as some off the branded alternatives, but I like to have the possibility to wrap one in plastic and shoot it underwater whitout having to worry how many years it would take to buy one again if it brakes.

Feedback

Most important advice: find a patient model. The poses were all but confortable and the shoot took a long time. Near the end of the session I had problems whit the lighting, because we were working outside and at about 11pm it got foggy. On the screen of the camera the images looked fine, but looking at a bigger screen (I thethered) the fog killed all the contrast. For the second session we made sure to wait until a really hot, dry day and it went much better.

See more amazing photos, follow maximilian_eheim

maximilian_eheim

maximilian_eheim

Closed inside

Body language

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow maximilian_eheim

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.