Here in Adelaide, South Australia, a city of approximately 1.3 million people, we've been very lucky in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic. 440 cases in such a large population, with the majority of these coming from interestate or overseas visitors, with one of the highest testing rates in the country means there's little to worry about as stay at home, work at home, and social distancing measures ease in various businesses and other segments of society.
With this, last weekend, Bree came to the home studio for a shoot. We shot two looks, and it made me realise just how much I'd miss handling the camera.
We spoke about restrictions easing, the ongoing financial impacts of businesses having been closed for long periods of time, and the way in which both the photographic and modelling industry had been impacted by the pandemic.
It was unsurprising that neither of us had seen a large portion of work enquiries or opportunities.
This first image is just shot against a wall.
We started the shoot with a simple black dress, with a few basic poses, before moving into the second look. These were to be standard studio shots, focusing on fashion, and Bree herself. She's undergone an amazing transformation which has led her to the world of modelling, losing over 100KG (220 pounds) to be where she is today.
I threw a backdrop up before we moved into some black and white work. THis image is probably my favourite of the dress images, I'm really happy with the retouch, composition, and posing.
Enter the black and white images!
The backdrop in this image is retouched in around the stool Bree was sitting on, and I love some of the patterned drapery around the way in which the fabric falls. If it is a topic that has fascinated sculptors for centuries, I have a right to be interesting in such happenings too.
There were a few more poses in black and white, with a few lighting set up changes, before we proceeded into the second look.
For the second look, we were going to approach a "wet" look, as though Bree had just gotten out of the shower. This is outside of the standard style I typically shoot in, as I tend to favour glamour and story driven portraiture, whereas this one had the target of "sexy" as the final outcome.
First, I'd like to share the set up, and some behind the scenes imagery of how this element was set up in a photographic context.
There are several parts of this image - seven in fact. I've numbered them, and now I'll explain them all.
- The main light. This was a Godox AD200 (using the speedlight head) set to manual exposure mode in a 80CM softbox. It was directed past the model and at the back wall, which was white.
- The white wall, behind the model. This serves to direct the light from light 1, and 2 (3 in the diagram) to help illuminate the scene evenly.
- Is a Godox TT685N Speedlight also set on manual, with a wide 24MM zoom factor. This provided fill light to ensure even frontal illumination.
- A light to help me use the manual focus feature of my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. Contrary to the image you see, my space is quite dark, and what I see through the lens is drastically different to what my final exposures end up looking like. Auto focus assist beams normally work, but because I was going to be shooting through element (5) - the screen, I would need to use manual focus for this part of the shoot.
- This is a piece of clear acrylic. I've drilled two holes (And sadly cracked one side by not applying even clamping when drilling) and threaded some cable ties across my backdrop stand to have a clear surface to shoot through. This was sprayed with a fine mist of water to give the illusion of shooting through wet glass.
- Me! I stand in this area, setting exposure, and providing instruction on posing and tweaking lighting ever so slightly.
- Where I had the model stand, with a towel below to catch any drips.
Keen photographic lighting enthusiasts will realise the softbox is moved ever so slightly in the final results, to give a bit more directional light obtained in the final exposures.
This set up is my living room, and I'll often run a HDMI cable from my camera to the TV to enable the model to tweak poses and check on lighting and that we're all happy with what is being produced. Change facilities are always in the privacy of another room in the house.
I only have 9 foot ceilings, and as you can see, the space is somewhat limited for large lighting modifiers, so I'm super happy that I can produce a studio quality look in the limited space I have available.
Without further adieu, here's the final images produced!
These images formed a new photographic direction, and one that I had not taken previously. As it is something that I've attempted, I'm keen for any feedback for ways in which I could improve this particular style of posing and exposure. The choice to go black and white for these images is aesthetic, as well as artistic.
Thank you for making it this far through my photographic ranting!
I am hoping to complete some more photoshoots in the near future, and I've got two lined up to take place within the next week, so expect to see images very soon!