SHOOT WITH A PRO

15

HOT

SHOT

TOP GEAR #

Lastolite Collapsible

backgrounds

NATASHA KEEPS a wide

range of backgrounds in her

studio, so she can create

different looks quickly. These

range from the usual paper

backdrops to these Lastolite

Collapsible Backgrounds.

The latter are 1.5x2.15m when

extended and collapse down

in a portable carry case,

meaning they don’t take up

studio space and are great for

taking on location. Natasha

used the Smoke/Concrete

one for Hotshot #3 and the

Tobacco/Olive on Hotshot #4.

ADD EXTRA TEXTURE

IF YOU want to inject a bit more depth into

your portraits you could try adding a texture

in Photoshop like we did to the image here.

A scratchy texture gives this image a vintage

vibe that compliments the aged yellow sepia

‘tobacco’ tones of the background perfectly.

Select your texture in Photoshop with Ctrl/

Cmd+A, copy it with Ctrl/Cmd+C and paste it

into your portrait with Ctrl/Cmd+V. Then

change the Blending Mode to see it come

through and resize with Free Transform Mode.

Lens Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art

Exposure 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO

YEMI’S COMMENT

Natasha had

this beautiful

gold chain link dress,

which worked brilliantly

for some fine-art nude

portraits. We settled on a collapsible

Lastolite 1.5x2.1m Tobacco/Olive

backdrop, as one of its sides had an

amazing golden quality to complement

the dress. Once again, I left the camera

settings largely unchanged and

concentrated on perfecting the

composition and focus by clicking over her

closest eye to the camera to focus in the

software and then press the shutter

button to fire the flash. We were going for

more of an ‘implied’ nude photograph and

to get this I directed her into a position

where her arms and dress were covering

enough, but still revealing enough

for a powerful, risqué image.