I ordered a lampshade for the patient patient amber tuttonhead. (And it’s not even a New Year’s Eve party!) But this venue offers more than just lampshades. We spent the whole day creating other images, taking advantage of the wonderful old house we rented, moving to different areas. In the scout photos, I see an old copper tub. Excited, I think, bubbles! Then the print is fine. No water, just props. So what to put in there besides Amber?
Annie to the rescue, with yards and yards of cloth. I mean, a sea of soft shimmering fabric. Why not? While Annie arranges the fabric, our wonderful HMU artist Sabrina Arrange the seemingly dumps and the hair yards of Amber.
Oddly enough, pictorially speaking, the smaller the room is usually the more things to manage. Lens management is important because of the potential for distortion. The walls are dark green, so there’s no ambient reflected light. Perch precarious on a ladder. Soft fabric, beautiful face, beckoning soft light. Nothing fancy, just a big one Profoto deep blur, used in piercing mode.
Annie did a great job with the BTS pix, moving around this very tight space, and Sabrina is magical when she arranges her hair. Amber had to keep adjusting herself as she lay on the pillow and continued to sink deeper into the massive tub.
You can feel the fatigue Jake Newell, in the BTS image above, holds his hand inside the umbrella. Quick concept, and something I’ve done over the years I’ve been using umbrellas. Light is often focused on the center, or slightly above the centre, due to the structure of this light profile. The main light in this case is a Profoto B10X Plus. The lighting is great, but its highlight is a bit too high for our subject, as I mentioned, who was submerged in the bathtub.
Jake is holding a Unit Profoto A10 in the lower corner of the umbrella, complete with a dome diffuser. I am controlling both lights with Profoto Connect Pro in front of the camera and just introduced a soft stream of light from the A10 into the mix, directing some light highlights downward, towards Amber. A quick assist like this helps customize the feel of an inconveniently placed light.
More on this photo shoot to come as Amber progresses from the serenity of a swaddled tub to the ferocity of this room!
Love the versatility of digital. Capture all Amber pictures with a Nikon Z9and either S series 24-70mm f2.8 or one first4-24mm f2.8, that’s standard fare, I know. But for the final image in that wild room, I converted to 16×9 format with the click of a button. With the cleaning of the furniture in the room, it makes sense.
This type of day…drilling into light, position and portraiture, is typical of our two upcoming adventures.
VEGETARIAN!!! Beautiful face, amazing athleticism, extraordinary talent straight from Strip performances. Fascinating locations, from Vegas style to cowboy towns.
TALLINN! In Saaremaa, in the beautiful country of Estonia, a week-long adventure at an epic castle. Eight models, elegant venue, completely immersed in the way the portrait lighting in an eye-catching and story-telling way.
More tk…
Item Lampshades, Bathtubs and Profoto Lights! appeared first on Photographer Joe McNally.
