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Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Winner in Fine Art Nude Women in B & W All others Removed Photo Challenge
Zenith Award
Contest Finalist in People In Black And White Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Fine Nudes In Black And White Photo Contest
People's Choice in Fine Nude Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in The Female Form Photo Contest
Featured
Contest Finalist in 500 Models Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Human Body Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Studio 101 Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Adore Noir Volume 1 Photo Contest
People's Choice in Fine Art Nudes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Skin in Black and White Photo Contest by Chromasia
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Exceptional Contrast
All Star
Jaw Dropping
Genius
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One Of A Kind
Top Class Lighting
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in Manchester at Edge Photographic Studio, sadly they have since closed down. As I only get over to Manchester once a year, shooting at Edge was great as it was different from my normal studio so I could play with different sets and lighting techniques.Time
Hat was a new model to Edge and I was going to be one of the first photographers to shoot her. We were just finishing up a 3 hour shoot, about 20 minutes left, we had done a number of dance shots, Hat was a trained Ballerina, and were looking for something to finish off. Someone had mentioned she was also a gymnast, so we quickly set up some lights on the cye and asked her what she could do for gymnastics. This was one of the resulting images, definitely my favorite of all time, as far as actual time, the exif data says April 21, 2013 at 7.54 pm, corrected for time zone, would be 1.54 pmLighting
As I was running short on time, lighting was kept very simple, a single Bowens with a large (6 ft I think) Octobox, placed at her head and pointed down about 45 degree, metered at a little under f8 (f5.6 8/10 possibly), I dropped the exposure down to f6.3 to under expose by a 1/3 - 2/3 stops. As it was on the white cyc, we used that to bounce a little light back up and onto her back.Equipment
This was shot on my Canon 7D, with a 50 mm f1.8 lens. Flash was a single Bowens monolight, 400 wSec, with a 6 ft (?) octobox. There was a radio trigger, but I forget exactly what brand was used.Inspiration
This had been literally a filler image to finish off a 3 hour shoot. Someone had mentioned she was a gymnast so I just asked her what she could do and gave her free reign for posing.Editing
Normally with most of my studio shots, I tend to warm the images slightly, when I looked at this image I realized it was going to look much better processed as a black and white image. With this in mind I did very little post-processing, maybe bumped the contrast slightly.In my camera bag
Traveling to the UK, I tend to travel light, on this trip I had my Canon 5D and 7D, the Canon 50mm f1.8 and 100mm f2.8 lenses. I've upgraded both my bodies and lenses since this shoot and now pack a 5DMk3 and a 5DsR, with a 70-200mm f2.8, my 100mm f2.8 and occasionally a 300mm f4. Day to day, I don't really have a use for a wide angle lens, so I generally rent one when I travel, something like the Canon 17-55mm f2.8.Feedback
The hardest part of this image is trying to find a gymnast who can actually bend herself almost in half backwards. Once you have found your model, a key things to the image is to keep the lighting very simple and let the white cyc work as fill in. Experiment with the placing and angle of the light, I may have nudged the light over a bit from my initial placing to make it look better.