wickedly hot
Nov, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was shot in my studio on the french riviera all though it's been an ongoing remodeling project that stops when shoots come around this was a test of humility in accepting the site doesn't need to look perfect to get a great shotTime
It was shot early evening in November we do have large windows that didn't have black out blinds on them yet and because of the time of day that time in the year the out door light did not contribute too much to the shot as part of the point was to craft the light on her Face, lips and eyes.Lighting
The lighting is most of the shot here I used a studio strobe with a giant 1m80 para just slightly camera left camera right had a soft box. During this shoot we actually also had the model stand in front of the soft box and then the Para was lighting her from straight on and we had a whole different shot on a whit background with strong hair light just by rotating 90 degreesEquipment
I would normaly shoot this on my Hasselblad, but since this was in a workshop setting I also wanted to show it could be done with a crop sensor camera. Camera: Canon EOS 60D Lens: 35-350mm (Canon no longer makes this but I LOVE this lens it's heavy and not stabilized but it's a great tool, always in my bag especially for weddings when you have to go from fitting 2 people to 50 people in your shot for group photos and may not have time to change spots and keep moving) Aperture: f/16 ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Focal Length: 75/1Inspiration
As soon as I met Irena I loved her eyes My wife and makeup artist had already worked with her on another shoot and there were few pictures that came from that shoot and none that my wife could use for a makeup portfolio. So although we didn't do a crazy makeup shoot we did have intense drama and attention brought to her lips and eyes and we had already decided this would be a portrait session. A big prat of the session was about developing the shot It turned out Irina had black nail polish that looked clean enough so it cave us an opportunity to use that in the shoot.Editing
For the most part I am not a graphic designer so I hate allot of post processing I want to have textures so I will clean up the skin especially reducing the shine. Most of my post processing is basic with some dodging and burning on the eyes, the background if any folds were distractingIn my camera bag
Most of My work is done at the studio where I will shoot with my Hasselblad H series and my go to lens on that is the HC 50-110 I shoot tethered to a monitor so both my subject and I can see the images as they come up and make sure we can work up to that "BOOM HEADSHOT" If I am on the go and need to travel light I might take the Canon 60D or one of my Canon Rebels, a 24-105 lens my nifty 50mm and several Neewer Flashes. Why Neewer, because they have a slave mode, they have an ETTL and manual... and if I brace it up against a rock for off camera fill light and it falls off the cliff it's affordable to replace, I also have a couple speed light gel sets and any extra room... BatteriesFeedback
When shooting a model I never want those awkward silence moments. This was difficult for me because at some point in my life I used to be shy. So I would practice some "go-to" phrases that I could always have handy and pull out as fillers. Even to get an intense look out of a model I am probably having her do something silly. For the hands by the face I dint want the fingers actually making contact with her skin or they would cause little folds and harsher shadows and I wanted the fingers slightly spaced out too so this "random silly directing I gave was probably" You just went to the nail salon and you need to hold your serious face on or it's going to fall off and don't mess up your nail polish" All this things are danced around according to the model to get the best response, bust also to get them to forget the camera because people tend to revert to their "camera face" and some people l can use their camera face many people need to get past that, it's the mask they put on to hide their insecurities but I want real people to come out and so the interaction is just as key as the light or the camera
