The arch.
Oct, 2015Views
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Winner in Nude with talc, chalk or flour Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
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Superb Composition
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Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in an abandoned steel works. It was a very large open space with no interior walls and minimal light.Time
This shot was taken at 11am. The time didn't really have any affect on the image as little light was shining into the building which is just what I wanted. I needed to have the subject in relative darkness in order to keep the background black.Lighting
For this, and the other shots in the series, I used a 3 light set-up as described below : Type of lights : 3x Bowens GM500R and 2x Bowens travelpax Light 1 : This was used with a 4' strip box and grid. It was positioned approx 3-4' behind the model and approx 6-8' to her left hand side. It was angled to point directly at her and the grid helped to prevent any spill. Light 2 : This was the same set-up as light 1, only this light was placed to the right hand side of the model. Both these lights were used to mainly back-light the powder and give it some definition, but they also helped to make the model stand out from the background. Light 3 : This was fitted with a 72cm beauty dish and honeycomb grid. It was positioned approx 3-4' to the left of my camera position and raised about 2-3' above the lens axis. Light 3 was set to approx 1 stop brighter than lights 1 and 2 The ISO was set to 400 and the flash sync speed to 1/200sec. Exposure was 1/200sec @ f6.3Equipment
The full list of equipment I used for this shot was : A Nikon D3 A Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens (Set to 66mm for this shot) A Manfotto tripod with 3-way pan and tilt head 3x Bowens GM500R flash heads with built in receivers 1x Bowens transmitter 2x Bowens travelpax 2x 4' stripboxes with grids 1x 72cm beauty dish with honeycomb grid 40 bags of plain flour 2.5kg of coloured holi powder (For other shots in the series) 1x assistant (To throw the flour/powder)Inspiration
My inspiration came from seeing many other photographers do powder shoots. I saw some pretty poor attempts but also saw some amazing ones too (Far better than what I have achieved here). I decided to set myself a challenge of creating a series of shots having never done anything like this before, in order to test my own photographic knowledge.Editing
Minimal post production was required for this particular shot. It was initially taken into LR where I did minor tweaks to the exposure/highlights/shadows. I then slightly increased the clarity to give the shot a more 'earthy' feel, and to help the powder stand out a bit more.In my camera bag
I have several different bags/cases, but which one I use depends on what i'm shooting. My basic go too kit consists of the following : A Peli storm case (iM2620) with wheels and adjustable interior. A Nikon D3 body A Nikon D7100 body with vertical grip An AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8G ED An AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G ED An AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm1:2.8Gii ED An AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4D An AF-S Teleconverter TC-20Eii 2x A Nikon SB-800 Speedlight A Gary Fong Lightsphere 2 Various Graduation filters A circular polarizer filter A 10 stop variable ND filter Several Compact Flash and SD memory cards of various sizes Plenty of spare camera and flash batteries A mirror (For model shoots) Strong adhesive tape Pens Cleaning cloth X-Rite color checker passport Spare reading glassesFeedback
If I could give any advice to people wanting to try this type of shot it would be this : 1. Make sure you have lots and lots of powder (You'll need it) 2. Have an assistant as they will need to throw powder on some shots) 3. Keep your lights/camera as covered as possible because the powder will get EVERYWHERE. 4. Take plenty of 'test shots' without the powder to get your timings right 5. Above all - Experiment and have fun. If your not enjoying it then it's not worth doing.
