Hayley's Car 1
Watch for my new book, "Vintage Showgirls", 3 years in the making.
Watch for my new book, "Vintage Showgirls", 3 years in the making.
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Sep, 2015Views
1233
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Awards
Fall Award 2020
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Love it
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Emotions
Impressed
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was a special group event held at a large estate, with privacy, an indoor pool, fountains and waterfalls on the grounds. But the best of the models were quickly monopolized by a very few photographers. I complained to the organizer, and he quickly gave me 30 exclusive minutes with the crowd favorite. I had archived shots of the car, and decided to add it to the background, originally as a contest entry. Put it out of the depth of field to keep focus on the model.Time
It was early afternoon, not recommended, but you don't turn down access to a model this good. I placed her in full shade, and used a speed light to prevent her from becoming a silhouette against the background in full sun. I frequently checked the LCD previews, but still had to do a lot of selective dodge and burn with Photoshop to optimize her flesh tones.Lighting
The challenge was to balance the model in full shade + speedlight fill, with the full sunlight of the background, and also add the virtual car (which was shot indoors with softbox, at another time). I had to dodge and burn portions of the car to try to match lighting, and putting the car into soft blur really helped. I also had to burn in a shadow under the car, as it was originally on concrete.Equipment
Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T3i Aperture: f/5 ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 1/100 Focal Length: 57/1Inspiration
Obviously, the availability of the much sought after model, she was very cooperative and even flirtatious, loved all the attention. I added the car to a few shots for a contest entry.Editing
(Already covered above)In my camera bag
Since doing this shoot, I have added a Canon T5i, keeping the T3i as back-up, lots of freshly charged batteries, a case of a dozen 32 GB memory cards freshly formatted and rated 10 for fast video recording, cleaning supplies, polarizing filters.Feedback
I prefer to avoid events like this, and work 1 on 1 with models I hire, but sometimes an event will access a pro model you might not otherwise afford. Be familiar with your cameras features and settings BEFORE you embarrass yourself trying to shoot nudes. Learn how to cope with a variety of lighting situations, reflectors and fill flash. I know its always best to get it all perfect "in camera" but I never met an image I could not improve using Photoshop. Layering in the virtual car was not essential, but glad I knew how to make it convincing. Also, relax and keep it fun working with any model, stay professional and don't ruin the opportunity by being creepy... word gets around.
