nicolewells

Wrapped

Studio shot of my daughter with her hair wrapped around her and a slightly quirky air.

Studio shot of my daughter with her hair wrapped around her and a slightly quirky air.
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NIKON D800

settings

Aperture 5/1 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 850/10

upload_date

Jun, 2016

Views

5103

Likes

+854

Awards

Zenith Award

Creative Winter Award

Curator's Selection

Top Shot Award 21

Legendary Award

Contest Finalist in Centered Compositions Photo Contest

Member Selection Award

Contest Finalist in Freshmen 2016 Photo Contest Vol 2

Featured

Contest Finalist in Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 11

Summer Selection

Peer Award

+211

Superb Composition

+102

Outstanding Creativity

+85

Top Choice

+80

Absolute Masterpiece

+72

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Superior Skill

Genius

Virtuoso

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at home in my dining room, which is really rather small. You make do with whatever space you have available though, don't you? I often shoot through from my loungeroom as I have a double door entryway from there into the dining room. It's a bit awkward though as there is the kitchen bar right on camera left, which can make things a bit tight.

Time

I think this was taken in the afternoon, although in a studio type environment, the time doesn't really matter quite so much. I usually choose a time of day where my daughter is still fresh enough to do photos, so either mid-morning or early afternoon during the weekends or school holidays.

Lighting

I used a 120cm umbrella styled octabox that I got from ebay! It was fairly cheap and best of all, it worked. I use elinchrom lighting and I directed the light to the back of the brolly and it spread the light, which was then filtered through a diffusion sheet. I knew I wanted beauty style lighting so I aimed the light slightly downwards at the front of her and then I used a reflector to help lighten any shadows caused.

Equipment

I used my Nikon D800 camera with an 85mm lens. I like that focal length for close up portraits. I also used my Elinchrom D-lite 400 & a reflector as well as a trigger. For the background I just used a plain grey paper, as that gives me great latitude in post processing.

Inspiration

My daughter and I were just playing around, I was learning how to do this style of lighting. I wrapped her hair lightly around her neck and thought it looked like a scarf and realised how much we can use our hair in different ways, such as a fashion accessory or to express how we feel. After I got the shot I did a search to see if any other people had done this and I saw that there were stock photos that were somewhat similar in pose. It really taught me that no matter how original we think our ideas are, there will have been someone somewhere, that has done something else similar. I just tried to make it my own.

Editing

I have this love affair with textures, I love adding them into my work. I love the difference they can make to an image. So I added a few into this image, as well as clearing up stray hairs, skin and sharpening her eyes. I tend to use a lot of layers in my work so I can easily erase anything I don't like later on, as I tend to experiment a lot. I use Lightroom to cull and do small adjustments and then take it over into Photoshop for the heavier lifting.

In my camera bag

I'm more of a studio style photographer, so I have my D800 which is a bit on the heavy side. I have 3 lenses, my 50 f1.8, 85 1.8 and my 135 f2 I don't really need the shallower depths of fields of the more expensive lenses. I have my elinchrom HS Skyport trigger, which I love and the d-lite 400 lights. I use the Sekonic L-758D to measure light as well as various things like reflectors & clips etc I have also recently added the Jin Bei HD 600V light to my arsenal as well, for when I take my studio outdoors. It has the battery in the head, so it's one less thing to forget haha.

Feedback

Experiment, experiment, experiment! Sometimes photo ideas strike whilst you are playing around with lighting, or during the post-processing phase. Don't be afraid to try something new, whether that be a lighting style or a new way of editing an image. I've explained above in the lighting section how to light an image in a similar way to mine, however you can use what you have at hand or a proper beauty dish if you have one. Another thing to remember to take into account is what sort of mood you want to encapsulate and dress your model accordingly. Don't be afraid to fail and just have some fun with it all!

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Wrapped