Island
Jul, 2014Views
1110
Likes
Awards
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Genius
Great Find
All Star
Emotions
Impressed
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 30 rankTop 20 rank week 2Top 10 rank week 1
Top 30 rank month 1
Top 10 rankCategories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a studio in Berkeley, CATime
3pmLighting
In order to get a smooth lighting on the surface of the water I needed a huge softbox. The white reflection on the water is the face of the softbox, so the larger the better. For this image I used a 6'x4' and was a little small. I now use a 12'x12' scrim. The softbox was behind the model and slightly above.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon 5DmkII with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens at 34mm. Strobe was a Paul C Buff Einstein.Inspiration
This was a variation on a series of bodyscapes I have been working on for the past couple of years, and was mimicking one of the poses from that series. That series was inspired while walking in the Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley NP. I came to a series of dunes that looked like the curves of a woman's body and started trying to replicate those dunes in the studio using models.Editing
Post-processing involved removing some bubbles from the water surface, retouching the model's skin to remove blemishes, brightening of the surface of the water using a curves layer and then converting to black and white using Nik Silver Effects ProIn my camera bag
Canon 5DmkII, Canon 17-40mm F/4L, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L, Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L, Canon 580 strobe, 4 pocket wizards, intervalometer, CamRanger, lots of memory cards, batteries, and business cards.Feedback
Best advice is to have as large a light source as possible. It should be larger than the size of the pool and as close to the surface of the water as possible. The pool used in the shot was an inflatable pool 8'x4'. Use heated water in the pool if possible to keep the model comfortable. If the water is not heated you are only going to get a few shots before the model will need to get out and warm up.
