Sweat
Jan, 2016Views
3541
Likes
Awards
Featured
Member Selection Award
Curator's Choice
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Genius
Superior Skill
Love it
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my studio apartment in Sydney, during the year I was living there. No, I don't mean "home studio". I do mean "studio apartment": it was a tiny place with big windows and beautiful light!Time
This was mid afternoon with a soft, diffused light coming through the window, before the late afternoon sun came directly and made it too harsh. It was an impromptu session and we were done in 15 minutes, with maybe only 10 shots or so.Lighting
I wanted a dramatic look, with lots of dark areas, and a lateral light to accentuate the texture of the droplets and the shape of the body. But I still wanted it to be soft, so I used the abundant window light by placing her right next to it, and used a white reflector just to lift some of the very dark shadows.Equipment
I used a Canon 60D with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens @ f/5, and I remember struggling with the composition. Being a cropped sensor and a tiny apartment, I didn't have much room to move, but I managed to fit what I wanted in the shot by climbing on top of the furniture and doing some basic level contortionism. Also, I used the white side of a 5-in-1 reflector to give some more depth to the body shapes.Inspiration
I've always shot very bright images with very little texture. I wanted to challenge myself by making a better use of controlled shadows and darkness, and I thought this mysterious, sensual concept would be a perfect fit for it. So I can say it was a bit of a reverse process: first I chose the light, then the idea, and only last the posing.Editing
As opposed to most of my usual material, I did some heavier post-processing on this one. It was also part of the challenge for me. The original image was slightly on the underexposed side, because I wanted to protect the highlights. So the first thing I did was bump up the contrast and then lift the shadows. A good amount of clarity was also applied. After that, some liquifying and dodging/burning to accentuate the shapes, and lastly, the final sharpening.In my camera bag
At the moment, my bodies are a Canon 6D and a 60D, and lenses are the Sigma 15mm fisheye f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Sigma 85mm f/1.4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 and a Canon 430 EX flash.Feedback
This was an impromptu mini-session, but not a spontaneous shot. Although we were very quick, I made sure to really check every aspect of the image before pressing the shutter. The composition, the direction of the light, hiding the bits I wanted hidden, exaggerating body shapes by directing the pose, filling in the shadows to show more depth. It was all very deliberate and my main goal was to play with shadows and highlights to show texture and form, and everything I did, was with this goal in mind.
