Friday 30 November 2012

Lights, Camera, Action...

Where am I at? Well so the saying goes am busy in the studio, have been for the last two sessions focusing on portraiture and an impromptu model namely Annie, thanks goes to Drew for making the call.
 
Am so happy it happened and am still buzzing from the shoot and hopefully the possibilities of some future business...which is why I started shooting people more so now, I have to say after viewing images of nudes from various photographers like Bailey, Ritts, Rankin, Beaton, Meisel and more recently Christian Coigny, I can see the appeal of shooting fashion more than some emotional landscape.
 
Perhaps I should incorporate myself into these genres; after all I enjoy being on both sides of the camera. Anyways back to my model Annie, I got some inspiration from the nudes but wanted to get some colour and low key lighting to work. How I went about this was firstly use three Arri 1000 Watt tungsten lights and I also had an Calumet 200, with modelling umbrella for some close up work.
 
The Arri's work great but after a while can leave your model feeling somewhat 'burnt out', they do get quite hot after a while and using an oven glove/mitt was just the trick for those barn doors, after a few shots, and changing camera as well as lenses during the shoot; I finally had some shots I was happy with for my assignment.
 


Stars©David Rothwell All Rights Reserved. Please do not use any of my images/digital data without my written permission. 2012

The first one was using one Arri's light from a right angle perspective; here you can see the style I was emulating in making my shot look like Pre-Raphaelite Woman, posing for a painter. I do agree that in paintings, each of these women's expressions embody enigma and distance; oftentimes, their poses remain static versus active.
 
I have entitled this one Stars I also used a red sheet and a black sheet for the props; the subtle narrow beam from the light placed just literally from the crown of her head down her back, and thus making it look like the sheet is reflected on the floor, adds a certain drama to the shot.
 
Annie©David Rothwell All Rights Reserved. Please do not use any of my images/digital data without my written permission. 2012
What I don't like about the shot is; on reflection I could have been a bit more adventurous, perhaps if the model had her left arm down slightly further and the sheet had drooped a little more may make this shot more romantic, provocative perhaps?
 
Here in another shot the model is more relaxed and has shown a bit more of that interesting body art. Yes, this one doesn't look so much like a painting, but it is a good portrait. It does capture some of the essence of the woman, it shows how care free the person is, and how comfortable she is in her surroundings.
 
I will be posting more shots up soon, so keep an eye out!
 
 
 
 

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