the shot
To throw a soft light on Bojana’s face i put one 500 watt flash head with
a 32 x 47 in (80 x 120 cm) softbox on the floor to the right of her. i placed
another to the left to light the inside of her legs, but it wasn’t my intention to make
the image very provocative so i reduced the power by two-thirds of a stop. The
third flash head went in the middle, fitted with a grid and placed on a boom 3¼ ft
(1 m) above her to light her torso and separate her body from the background.
Jovana stayed nearby, ready to touch up Bojana’s makeup if need be.194 PHoTograPHErS’ gallEry
Changing to film
i use a digital camera to improve the pose
and the lighting—it is faster and cheaper than
Polaroids. This was the model’s first nude shoot
and it helped her to see the photographs as we
worked, but for the final shots i then loaded up
my film camera.Bojana, Belgrade, February 2007For THiS SHoT
Camera: Bronica ETrsi; 150mm lens
Aperture: f/22
Shutter speed: 1/125th of a second
Sensor/film speed: iSo 100
Lighting: Bowens 500 watt flash heads
with softboxes and a gridMetering the light
i took an incident light
reading on Bojana’s leg
where the softbox was
creating a highlight. There
is no point in setting up
beautiful lighting unless
you also get the exposure
absolutely right!
Onscreen viewing
once i was getting closer to the final
lighting and pose, looking at images
on the bigger screen made it easier
to analyze them.