Beauty Unsurpassed - _MG_0271 V
Model shoot at her house.
Model shoot at her house.
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Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Aperture 56/10 ISO 640 Shutter 1/40 Focal Length 45/1 
Los Angeles, California, US
Jan, 2023Views
133
Likes
Awards
Picture Perfect Award
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
The model, Vassanta, had rented a house in Los Angeles. She was a professional model who specialized in glamour and nude photography. We held a glamour shoot session there. In the house hung a beautifully colorful quilt with floral and geometric designs. I saw it as the backdrop for a sensuous nude shot. Originally, I saw this as a color shot.Time
Probably early afternoon. But all the lighting for this shot was studio flash that I had brought to the house. I overrode all the surrounding natural light in the relatively dark room.Lighting
I used two Calumet Travelite 375R flash units, with softboxes attached, plus a large silver reflector to soften shadows.Equipment
I was shooting (photo taken in 2015) with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, with a Canon pro level 28-105mm lens. To control the lighting I used flash lighting to override the in-house lighting.Inspiration
V. was particularly comfortable shooting nudes; she exuded a quiet sense of repose and beauty, while the elegant curves of her body expressed elegance and sensuousness. I wanted to set her softness and comfort at modeling nude against the brilliant colors and geometric designs of the quilt.Editing
I did a lot of post-processing. I work in Photoshop and often create multi-layered, manipulated shots. Once I saw the color image I had captured, I sought to soften it, to remove the bright colors of the quilt and V.'s lipstick to pastel greys and pinks. In other words to blend V.'s softness with a complementary background of extremely subdued colors.. Through manipulation of layers and use of Photoshop tools, I was able to produce the partially B/W, partially color image that won me this award.In my camera bag
I carry my Canon camera with two or three lenses, depending on who or where I'm shooting. In the desert or mountains I always have an ultrawide lens and a long telephoto (Canon pro 70-200 mm). On indoor shoots, such as the one with V., I also do my first exposure readings using a Sekonic light meter as I adjust the flash outputs. For these shoots, I often rely on Canon's 28-105 lens, altho sometimes I shoot with a straight 100 mm lens. I always carry a couple Canon on-camera flashes in my equipment bag, as well.Feedback
My philosophy is that photographing a (female) nude is not to seek male arousal, nor to use a camera's sharpness to capture minute bodily details (that's porn). Rather, the goal is to forge an image that fuses the moment of the shutter click with a broader vision. In this case, I overrode brilliant color to put to focus on shape and mood. In nude photography, try to go well beyond the literal to portray the transcendent moment of your vision.
