veronika
Sep, 2015Views
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People's Choice in black & white female portrait Photo Challenge
Winner in Black&white portrait’s Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in my studio in downtown Bucharest. Everything started as a play with one of my good friend and model with whom I love to work with.Time
That Saturday morning I've called Veronika to ask her if she's willing for a quick work at the studio. I remember that she mumbled something because apparently my call was made to early for her. But she said yes and in two hours she was in front of my camera, posing so naturally and full of energy.Lighting
Because she wasn't fully awake after calling her so early, I was a little bit afraid to propose her a more complex lighting scheme. But, I was totally pleasantly surprise when she didn't complained at all when four studio lights were pointed towards on her. Main light was a beauty dish supported by a fill light through a 120 x 80 cm softbox. The third light was placed above her head and a fourth one uses as background light.Equipment
To take this photo I used a Nikon D600 camera together with the classical Nikon 24-70 mm f/2.8. To obtain a proper depth of field and perfect details, I decided to use an f/8 aperture. ISO was set to 100 and the exposure time used was 1/100 sec. Because I was moving quite a lot, I've decided not to use a tripod for the camera.Inspiration
Veronika has somehow Russian roots and because my favorite Russian writer is Chekhov, I got inspired by one his character from the "Three Sisters" play, Irina Sergeyevna Prozorova. I've been thinking for a long time to make a short shooting with Veronika where to reproduce some of Chekhov characters.Editing
For all my post processing I am using Photoshop as the main software together with few add-on filters from Nik Software. For this particular photo I've used Silver Efex Pro 2, in my opinion one of the best add on for black&white photos.In my camera bag
Beside my main camera which now is a Nikon D750, I have also a backup camera, a Nikon D7100. Regarding the lenses, I mostly use my Nikon 24-70 mm f/2.8 and my Sigma 70-200 mm f/2.8. I also carry with me my prime lenses of 35mm and 50 mm f/1.8. I also have an old 28-105 mm Nikon lens that has also a macro function and mounted on D7100 I have a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 super wide lens. For additional light, I have two Nikon SB900 flashes.Feedback
First of all, make your homework before going in the studio. A good make-up artist and a hairstyle artist are mandatory, otherwise you may have an unpleasant surprise that your model to show up wearing a make-up which is totally wrong and the most inappropriate hairstyle. Always talk with your model about the topics of the shooting before bringing her in the studio because you may find out that she disapprove your ideas and the whole project will be a fiasco. If all these conditions are fulfilled and you both are ready to start working, always communicate as much as possible with your model, make her feel like a movie star and constantly show her those best images that you've made together. It will help to boost her self confidence.
