michelleterri

shadowy damsel

Canon EOS 1100D

settings

Aperture f/3.5 ISO 1250 Shutter 1/40 Focal Length 18/1

upload_date

Jun, 2017

Views

648

Likes

+46

Awards

Action Award

Zenith Award

Legendary Award

Peer Choice Award

Contest Finalist in People And Shadows Photo Contest

Top Choice

+12

Absolute Masterpiece

Peer Award

Superb Composition

Outstanding Creativity

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in my kitchen, it looks glamorous but poor Georgia was laid under a chair (that's what's casting the shadows), on dirty lino!

Time

I can't remember exactly, but I know our shoot was in the afternoon. As it was indoors it was all studio lighting though, we used softboxes and for this shot a lamp which I held in one hand with the camera in the other. Not at all comfortable for either of us, but worth it!

Lighting

As mentioned above, I needed a good strong light for nice defined shadows. So I held a lamp and moved it around until I liked the effect, then took the shot. There was also some natural light coming in through the kitchen window, but this shot was really about the shadows cast by the strong focused light coming from the lamp.

Equipment

Handheld Canon 7d, with the standard kit lens.

Inspiration

This was a test shoot for an idea I had of showing body positivity and how every woman can be beautiful in a photo without loads of touch ups and post processing. I wanted to start a photo business for women focusing on body confidence and feeling great about how they look. The business didn't pan out, but I really enjoyed doing the test shoots. This particular photo was inspired by the fact that I just love the dramatic effects shadows, especially intricate shadows, can create on skin.

Editing

As I mentioned above, this series of shoots was about celebrating natural female beauty, so the emphasis was on really not doing a lot of post processing. I adjusted the contrast slightly and applied noise reduction, and that's about it.

In my camera bag

I have a Canon 7d body with standard kit lens, a 75-300mm zoom lens, Tamron macro lens and an ultra wide aperture prime pancake lens that will go to f1.8. Then I have a big stop filter for long exposures and a polarising filter, a tripod and on a much more analogue note, some old kaleidoscope glass that I sometimes shoot through for a trippy effect.

Feedback

This is actually not a difficult photo to set up. You need a model, a strong light source, and something which will cast an interesting shadow. The last could be anything - in this case I used a wickerwork chair, but in the past I've used lace, the weave of a blanket, or even just stripes of sunlight and shade coming through the window - lots of things make interesting shadow patterns. You want it to be nice and crisp so take plenty of shots, that way you can choose the best one. Mine was very DIY as in putting my model under a chair, in the kitchen, with a handheld camera and a handheld lamp and it wasn't very comfortable, but if the model is fully dressed and there's bright sunlight, I would recommend working outside where the sun can be your light source!

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michelleterri

michelleterri

shadowy damsel

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow michelleterri

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