Sophia on Seymour
Jan, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was an adventure for me. It was my first time shooting in the snow, and it turned out to be an overcast day, cold, and then, it started to snow too. We shot this about 10 minutes from the parking lot of a local ski destination, Mt. Seymour.Time
It was a bit of a drive to get there, and the team was all coming from different directions, so, while we shot this late in the afternoon, I think we were still planning, and arranging where everyone was to meet, before going up to the mountain's parking lot, well before lunchtime. On top of that, the MUA and the model had to meet up first to apply the makeup and style the hair. So while the shot only took a moment, the behind the scene mechanics of this location meant we had to plan and solve problems and schedule everything, which ended up taking most of the day.Lighting
I used a speed light, and a reflector for this shot... I have a BTS video on this somewhere. The speedlight was camera left in a beauty dish, and the MUA was holding a reflector, camera right. The light reflecting off the snow made for a few challenges, and when it started snowing on us, the lighting changed again, as well as continually covering the reflector with snow (it was coming down pretty hard), but the overcast nature of the sky basically meant that if I wanted the lighting to be interesting at all, I was going to have to create that interest, the sun wasn't coming out any time soon.Equipment
I was using a Canon 60D at the time, with a remote trigger on my speedlight (mounted on a stand, camera left). I had my 24-105L for the lens on this shot. I also had the MUA holding a reflector on camera right.Inspiration
This was a location I had wanted to explore for some time. It is only a short walk from the parking lot, making access pretty simple, but it's also well off the regular trails that the many mountain visitors use. It has a very "winter wonderland" feel to it, and some of the trees nearby almost have a Dr. Seuss inspired look to them, with bent over swirly snow covered tree tops (not seen too much in this particular shot, but all around, and in other shots from the day). As it turned out, my model for the shoot, Sophia, was crazy enough to agree with the idea, and we were set! She has the most amazing blue eyes, which always look good, and really pop in this snow too I think.Editing
There is some post processing here, but very little really. The beauty dish was originally in the top left corner of the image, so of course, that was removed in post. There is some extremely light touch-up work done on her skin (she has great skin!) and some minor blemishes removed. I also added a touch more contrast to punch her out of the landscape just a little more, but, looking at them both side-by-side while I type this, it's surprisingly SOOC looking. I guess I had a good day! :) There isn't any colour toning on this image, it looked this way, straight from the camera.In my camera bag
My go-bag for gear is pretty standard these days. I keep a Canon 6D, and a 60D for video or backup, 4 lenses, a 70-200mm 2.8, a 24-105mm 4.0, a 100mm 2.8 macro, and a 50mm 1.2. One speedlight, with gels for it. Extra batteries,some basic lens cleaning gear, and a strap for when I know I'm going to be carrying the camera around for extended periods. Other than that, some business cards and a cork screw (because I'm an optimist! lol) Oh, and I have a reflector in my trunk usually, in case I need a second easy light source too.Feedback
I certainly had to pivot quickly with the weather, breaks in the cloud were one style of light to work with, which shifted rapidly to overcast, requiring all the lighting and lens adjustments to change, and again when it actually started snowing (none of the snow in this image was added in post). Along with that, the snow itself is extremely reflective, and that has to be accounted for as well. It also plays havoc with the light meter inside your camera, it gives inflated values of the light, which isn't coming from your subject, so, it was definitely a learning experience for me that day.
