Pascal Baetens. Nude Photography. The Art and The Craft. 2007

the shot

in one corner of the studio i set up a black velvet curtain and a flash head fitted

with a softbox, though i used only the modeling light rather than the flash itself.

immediately beside it was a roomy table covered with a black cloth for Valeria

to make herself comfortable on, with plenty of spare fabric that could be used

to cover her feet or legs if i wished to exclude them from a pose. We got down to

the shoot and, as usual, there were times when we had to work hard to keep the

continuity and the feeling and others when everything glided along effortlessly.

204 PHoToGRaPHeRs’ GalleRy

Valeria’s Fingers

FoR THis sHoT

Camera: 10 x 8 inch kodak eastman camera;

320mm lens

Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter speed: 3 seconds

Sensor/film speed: iso 200

Lighting: Bowens esprit Gemini 500 watt

flash head with softbox

Making an exposure
To expose the film to light
i simply took off the lens cap
and replaced it again. While
i timed it accurately, with a
long exposure of 3 seconds
a small fraction of a second
either way isn’t as critical as
it would be with a fast
shutter speed.

Retouching

There was a small amount of

retouching needed to the print,

which i did using a fine brush and

my set of watercolour pigments.