In Wonderland
Sep, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken in my school's photo/video studio during my second semester of studio lighting classes. As a photographer who strictly uses natural light for personal work, I spent a lot of time playing around with ideas and tricks while I had these incredible tools at my disposal!Time
This photo was taken on July 24th, 2014 at 5:30pm. However, since we were in a studio, we didn't have to worry about the time of day at all!Lighting
This was honestly a super simple setup. Two AlienBee B800's with large rectangle soft boxes positioned on either side of her face - nothing crazy at all!Equipment
This was shot with a Canon EOS Rebel T4i and an 18-55mm kit lens.Inspiration
This shoot was a lot of fun in general. I had an open portfolio for my studio lighting class, which meant I could do whatever I wanted to. With my sister, Danielle, as my model, it was really easy to move directions quickly without hesitation. We started out with some girl-next-door headshots, but then I asked my sister to put on the red lipstick for some editorial shots with her black dress... We both decided we didn't care for the color on her whatsoever, but wanted to make the best of it! Thus, we went from girl-next-door to deranged. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Lewis Carroll's stories and Tim Burton's take on Alice In Wonderland, so that had a bit to do with the final shot you see here. It was incredibly fun and is now unfolding into a full series exploring Carroll's characters. Alice here is still my favorite.Editing
Oh, yes! The original image was warm. Really, really warm, due to the lights and the fact that my sister was fairly tan at the time. I cooled down the temperature in the image considerably and bumped up the saturation on her eyes and lips while desaturating her face and hair to give her a ghostly appearance. Then, I burned out her neck, dress, and arms in Photoshop to blend with the black studio background for the Cheshire Cat appearance.In my camera bag
I always shoot with my Canon Rebel T4i body, with my go-to lens being the Canon 50mm f/1.8. I also keep the Canon 18-55mm kit lens and 75-300mm f/4-5.6 handy as well, but I almost exclusively use the 50mm out of personal preference. I carry a LENSPEN, microfiber cleaning cloth, and extra cards on hand as well.Feedback
As you can see by what I carry in my bag, you don't need expensive gear to get the shots you want, or, as it was in this case, the accidental shot you didn't know you wanted. The beauty of creativity is that is never actually stops evolving, so let your shoot go wherever it wants to go and see what happens! The vision for the image here did not come before the shoot went this direction, which meant I had to let creativity and inspiration run its course for a few minutes before I could see where we needed to go. The unknown isn't necessarily a bad thing - use it to your advantage!
