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Precision laser cut Leaf Earrings from Organic Cell Series. Stones are about 1 mm each. Modeled by Eve.
Precision laser cut Leaf Earrings from Organic Cell Series. Stones are about 1 mm each. Modeled by Eve.
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Jul, 2013Views
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Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
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Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Exceptional Contrast
Jaw Dropping
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
![This is L-Z, the brave little space mailman. He is one of the characters from my book, "Travel Agency "Your Universe" [we will show you the worlds!] :](https://cdnpt01.viewbug.com/media/mediafiles/2012/08/05/2047558_widepreview400.webp)
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in my studio in Alexandria, Virginia. I had been blessed to have a studio with a wall-sized window, which produced wonderful natural lighting. After months of experimentation, I discovered which areas were best for photographing models and mannequins, and which - for doing small product photography. I often played with lighting, combining natural and artificial sources. I kept a diary, in which I recorded light colors during particular times of day and their changes throughout the seasons. For example, 5 AM - 7 AM = bright red and orange light color; 7 AM - 10 AM = yellow light color; 10 AM - 2 PM = ideal cool white (5000 K) light color; 2 PM - 4 PM = pink-purple light color; 4 PM - 7 PM = blue light color, and so on. Each of these light colors can be made to serve a particular purpose and set a particular mood in a photograph.Time
This particular shot was done at 5 AM. As mentioned earlier, light color can be used to achieve a particular result. Here I used vivid red light of an early morning to give living glow to a plastic skin of a mannequin. Yep, Eva is a mannequin, although in many shots I made her look like a human.Lighting
Lighting tips are always worth sharing! Without lighting, there is no photograph, at least not a very good one :) With this particular shot, I was presented with a unique challenge. On one hand, I needed the red natural light to make the model look alive. On the other, harsh glare of an early morning light would completely wipe out all details in the earring that she is modeling. After much fussing around (I started fussing at about 4 AM, so I would have some time and would not lose the light), I ended up using four different light sources - one natural and three artificial cool white (5000 K) ones. Natural lighting was used to highlight the skin, first artificial light source - to create depth and detail in the piece of jewelry, second - to create sparkle and highlights on the crystals, and third - to white out the background and make post processing a gift for a lazy photographer, such as myself.Equipment
I always use my one and only Little Camera, also known as Canon PowerShot S95. Many of those unfamiliar with its features and with what it can do for you call it "a tourist camera". I believe in achieving mastery in your art versus equipment hording. If you are a great painter, you will take a $0.50 craft brush and paint Mona Lisa with it. If you never bothered to learn to be a great painter, you will buy a professional $50 brush and paint a muss with it. My advice to everyone has always been - love what you have and learn how to use it the best you can. As to the tripod, I used my beautiful carbon fiber Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 tripod. A person could not wish for a finer tripod. I absolutely love my tripod and will carry it on my back to the top of Mount Everest if I have to :) I did try using flash but that did not really work out, so I did not. I guess, enough is enough, and adding a fifth light source was not required :)Inspiration
Oh dear, we are talking about concept and inspiration now, the favorite topic! Stop me when this goes over the first ten chapters! :) Quite a few things inspired me to take this photo. One of them is the love for transformations. Some might call it sick, but I actually love making mannequins look like living humans, and human models - like porcelain dolls or metal statues. Second is the consumerism spirit of the society that we are living in. Everything is up for sale, even ourselves. Thus, addition of a simple barcode to the neck of the model. Third, I do love to photograph crystals. In my opinion, crystals are one of the most beautiful things in the Universe. They are also one of the hardest things to photograph and can drive you completely nuts while you are trying to do so. A helpful hint - keep your hammer away when doing crystal photography, especially if the crystals belong to somebody else! In this shot, I was determined to let the hidden fire within these crystals out and show it to the world, and I think I have achieved that.Editing
As much as I don't like to, with jewelry photography you usually end up having to. With this photograph, I changed contrast and lighting, smoothed out the model's skin, and used a simple barcode generator to get the barcode image, which I then applied to the model's neck. I also did some work on the background, but that was very minimal, since I used a light source to fix this for me.In my camera bag
My Little Camera and my tripod. Although the tripod doesn't really fit into a bag; I usually end up carrying it on my back. Since most of my photography is done indoors, I always have my EZ Cube (light tent), lights, holding wax, hanging wires and strings, anti-static brush, polishing clothes, acrylic sheets, and choice of backgrounds neatly tucked away all together.Feedback
Experiment. Move things around and write down the results. Suppress temper tantrums and develop a very big patience. It was good for Julius Caesar to say "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered"); however, that rarely happens in the world of professional photography. Keep working on your shot, even if inside you want to smash all of your equipment and jump out of the window. If you are working with a human model, get to know the person, the way the model moves, model's personality, for how long the model can stand still, any unique appearance features and how you can use them to the shot's advantage. Keep human interaction with the model going, so you don't have wooden faces in your shots. Use lighting as your ally, for the powerful ally it is. Good luck and may the Light be with you!
