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Jun, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken on a dirt road in a forrest located in Poland. It's a place that offers a lot of beautiful sceneries and possibilities to capture wildlife. But what's most important – it's peaceful, quiet and private.Time
At the time I was inspired by noir films. In order to recreate the mood the decision was made to shoot after the sunset, in the dark. We set up the equipment at around 11 p.m., when even the slightest glow of setting sun was gone. All we could see were silhouettes of trees, backlit by car reflectors. The shoot continued for around 2-3 hours, accompanied by the sounds of nature, waking up at night.Lighting
We used 2 lamps with soft diffuser, 4 x 80W bulb each, neutral light temperature. The lights were placed behind the model, one a few meters behind the back, to show the contour of hair, arms and smoke, the other one from different angle, in order do place some light on the model's face. I wanted to achieve strong contrast and emphasize smoke texture.Equipment
The shot was taken with canon 5d mark II with 50mm 1.8 lens attached. At the time it was the brightest lens in my collection. In order to focus on point I used Canon Speedlight 430ex II with AF assistant and flash disabled. It turned out the smoke was driving AF crazy and made it completely useless, so I switched to manual and hoped for the best. Extra smoke was provided by smoke generator.Inspiration
There's always a special place in my heart for b&w images, which I find more emotional, intense. Probably that's why I really enjoy noir movies - deep shadows, intrigue, smoke, something lurking in the dark. The picture was a try to recreate the mood of an old film and make the shoot somehow mysterious.Editing
In the post-processing process I had to darken the background. Diffusors on the lamps shed extra light on the dirt road, driving viewer's attention away from the model. With the usage of curves and high-pass filter I enhanced the contrasts on model's face and smoke texture.In my camera bag
I use Lowepro backpack, which gives me comfort during long shoots and events, where I have to carry a few kilograms of equipment and need to access it quickly. If you opened it, you could find Sigma 50mm 1.4 art, my favourite lens of multiple purposes; Canon 24-70 2,8 L II, usually used for dynamic situations in smaller, restricted spaces; Canon 135mm 2.0 L, great portrait lens with amazing bokeh. For landscapes and strong sunlight I attach Hoya polarizing filters, to capture more detail out of the sky. In low light environment I use Speedlight 430ex II, sometimes only for the AF assistant. Also, obviously, at least 2 spare SD cards and a remote trigger for timelapse productions.Feedback
Sometimes you shouldn't worry about the proper exposition, balanced shadows, perfectly lit model. Let the viewer use their imagination, to tell them the rest of the picture. Nighttime is always fascinating subject because of the mysteries it hides. Add just a hint of light, a reflection, some candles to reveal just a small part of the secret and there you go!
