Jenny
Apr, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Coco Studios in Nottingham. Unfortunately, it's closed now, but it was on the top floor of an old mill and had a fantastic boudoir set with a window that was probably 12ft high and gave incredible natural light. I've got a few images from that room in my portfolio.Time
It was taken early in the afternoon, maybe 2 o'clock-ish. The sun didn't hit that window directly at that time, so didn't cause a problem with harsh shadows and contrast.Lighting
The shot was taken right next to the window. I've always loved using natural light as much as possible. The light that day was quite soft, which definitely adds to the feel of the image. Sometimes I'll use a reflector to bounce a little light back into the shadows, but I don't think I needed to on this occasion.Equipment
Canon 5DS, 24-105mm f4. ISO 400, 1/200s at f4.Inspiration
This was part of a casual practice session. I like to keep my portfolio turning over regularly, so if I've not got a paid shoot going on I'll sometimes book a studio for a couple of hours and get in touch with one of the models I've worked with in the past. I find it helps when trying new things to just be able to concentrate on what I am doing and let the model do their thing. Then, when I am doing paid shoots, I already know how I want things to look, what works and what doesn't.Editing
I think all images benefit from a little tweak here and there. Personally, I try to make an image look as though there's no processing going on. I think if you look at an image and can say "they've done this or that to it" then it's been done too much. I usually just check the white balance, tweak the contrast if required and clean up a little, dust spots, stray hairs, etc. As far as skin goes, I'll remove temporary blemishes, but anything that is permanent will stay in as it's part of the person you're photographing (Unless they specify that they want it removed, of course). My pet hate is seeing over-smoothed skin. Skin has a texture, it should look like it's got a texture.In my camera bag
5DS, 5D2, 50mm f1.2, 24-105mm f4, 70-200mm f2.8, 2x converter and I usually have my ELB400 portable flash set in the boot of my car too.Feedback
I always try to read the light. No two days are the same and you can't guarantee what you're going to get with a natural light shoot, so I'll set up and get a composition based on where the light is coming from and what I want to see in the image, take a shot, check the back of the camera and make adjustments as necessary. It's always handy to check the histogram too, just to make sure you're not clipping any highlights or shadows. The beauty of digital photography is that we can do exactly this. Take a shot, check it, if we don't like it, make changes and check again.
