the shot
i used just one light to shoot this image, with white and silver reflectors in
the surrounding areas and a black flag on a light stand between the light and
the model to throw a shadow across her body and darken the background. The
idea behind this lighting setup was to use shadows on and around her to create
a kind of vignette in order to emphasize the parts of her body i wanted to show.
i ended up cropping this image quite tightly to maximize subtle lines that would
also draw the viewer’s attention to certain parts of it.224 PHoToGraPHerS’ Gallery
Using a reflector
My assistant held the white
side of a reflector above
alienor’s head to fill in some
of the shadow details with
a bit more light. This is
particularly important when
shooting digitally, as the
shadow area is usually very
underexposed, and this
makes it difficult to extract
detail from the shot.Alienor, Paris, 2007For THiS SHoT
Camera: Canon 1DS Mark 2; 50mm lens
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/125th of a second
Sensor/film speed: iSo 160
Lighting: HMi 2.5kChecking progress
looking at images on the
camera screen during
shooting is not only great
for checking progress but
also for keeping the model
inspired. i can also check
exposure by bringing up the
histogram on this screen.
Checking the shots
Following the shoot i checked the sharpness of the
images, having applied black and white conversion
and contrast effects.