- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
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I'm sure those of you who have seen my work posted on this site are getting used to seeing my photos of Nicolo. Yesterday was my 6th photo shoot with him in the last year, and I've had more photos of him published than anyone else. He's definitely my favorite muse, and he becomes a better model every time we do a new shoot.
I'm continuing my exploration in studio photography thanks to a friend who lets me use his studio and very fancy strobes in exchange for teaching him a thing or two about what I know of shooting portraits. I'm experimenting and learning a lot, but the limited time slots in the studio can make it difficult to get very far in one session, and I find it to be a challenge to try every light setup that I'd like to and to get as many "keepers" as I'd like.
This recent shoot was an interesting one. The original premise of the shoot was to be a nude shoot (those photos can be found in the NSFW sub-forum in a thread with the same title), but Nicolo had the idea to bring a piece of men's shapewear because he likes the silhouette it makes on him (not that he needs it). I like Nicolo's style and am always happy to photograph him in various pieces from his wardrobe, so of course I was happy to photograph him in this piece. I've never seen a man in high waisted underwear, but I think it adds a nice feminine touch without clashing with his masculinity, and it still exudes male sexuality to me. It also reminds me of a classic circus body builder with a bit of a modern twist. Anyways, I'll stop talking about the photos and just post them.
For this shot I used two gel'd Profoto D1 Air 500W strobes in strip boxes with no scrim (I have no idea if a scrim should be used with color gels, but I'd love to know what you think about that). I've learned that using color gels isn't as easy as I expected. They definitely have an effect on how much light is projected through the strobe, and I also feel that they complicate my dodging and burning process in post production; I have to do a lot more spot color correction, but it's a simple process if you're using layer masks with adjustment layers. The extra work is worth it in my opinion though.
EOS 5D MKI
85mmL @f/5
1/200th sec
ISO 100
For this shot I used the same two Profoto strobes, except with no gels, and the key light was modified with a 47" Zeppelin parabolic softbox. Camera and settings are identical to the first photo.
For this shot I was trying to mimic the lighting in a portrait I had seen another photographer make. I used a single strobe in the 47" Zeppelin. For some reason I wasn't liking the way this setup looked while I was shooting it, so I moved on quickly and didn't get many shots with it (time in the studio was very limited, so rather than trying to adjust the light until I liked it, I just moved on to the next idea). Only in post did I realize that I actually did like the lighting, and wish I had gotten a few more shots using it. This was the best shot in my opinion from this setup, I just wish I had captured a better expression on Nicolo's face. My intention with this light setup was to really sculpt and contour Nicolo's cheek bone structure, but I don't think I placed the light at a high enough angle above him in order to get the more dramatic sculpting that I was hoping for.
Camera and settings are the same as the last two photos.
I would love to get any feedback I can on these. I've been having a lot of fun getting more into studio photography after years of intentionally shooting only in natural and available light (not necessarily based on preference, but based more on the fact that natural light photography generally requires much less investment in gear). Having the control and predictability of studio has been nice, and once I feel more comfortable with it I definitely hope to start renting more often when shooting for clients (covered by their budget of course
).
For anyone interested, here is a before/after of the first image, plus a list of the layers required to edit it. It looks complicated with so many layers, but each one is a subtle change, and the editing isn't as complicated as it seems. Mostly it's a lot of dodging, and I'll soon be recording a tutorial to show my dodging/burning process for skin retouching and sculpting (which I will gladly share with TPF).
I'm continuing my exploration in studio photography thanks to a friend who lets me use his studio and very fancy strobes in exchange for teaching him a thing or two about what I know of shooting portraits. I'm experimenting and learning a lot, but the limited time slots in the studio can make it difficult to get very far in one session, and I find it to be a challenge to try every light setup that I'd like to and to get as many "keepers" as I'd like.
This recent shoot was an interesting one. The original premise of the shoot was to be a nude shoot (those photos can be found in the NSFW sub-forum in a thread with the same title), but Nicolo had the idea to bring a piece of men's shapewear because he likes the silhouette it makes on him (not that he needs it). I like Nicolo's style and am always happy to photograph him in various pieces from his wardrobe, so of course I was happy to photograph him in this piece. I've never seen a man in high waisted underwear, but I think it adds a nice feminine touch without clashing with his masculinity, and it still exudes male sexuality to me. It also reminds me of a classic circus body builder with a bit of a modern twist. Anyways, I'll stop talking about the photos and just post them.
For this shot I used two gel'd Profoto D1 Air 500W strobes in strip boxes with no scrim (I have no idea if a scrim should be used with color gels, but I'd love to know what you think about that). I've learned that using color gels isn't as easy as I expected. They definitely have an effect on how much light is projected through the strobe, and I also feel that they complicate my dodging and burning process in post production; I have to do a lot more spot color correction, but it's a simple process if you're using layer masks with adjustment layers. The extra work is worth it in my opinion though.
EOS 5D MKI
85mmL @f/5
1/200th sec
ISO 100
For this shot I used the same two Profoto strobes, except with no gels, and the key light was modified with a 47" Zeppelin parabolic softbox. Camera and settings are identical to the first photo.
For this shot I was trying to mimic the lighting in a portrait I had seen another photographer make. I used a single strobe in the 47" Zeppelin. For some reason I wasn't liking the way this setup looked while I was shooting it, so I moved on quickly and didn't get many shots with it (time in the studio was very limited, so rather than trying to adjust the light until I liked it, I just moved on to the next idea). Only in post did I realize that I actually did like the lighting, and wish I had gotten a few more shots using it. This was the best shot in my opinion from this setup, I just wish I had captured a better expression on Nicolo's face. My intention with this light setup was to really sculpt and contour Nicolo's cheek bone structure, but I don't think I placed the light at a high enough angle above him in order to get the more dramatic sculpting that I was hoping for.
Camera and settings are the same as the last two photos.
I would love to get any feedback I can on these. I've been having a lot of fun getting more into studio photography after years of intentionally shooting only in natural and available light (not necessarily based on preference, but based more on the fact that natural light photography generally requires much less investment in gear). Having the control and predictability of studio has been nice, and once I feel more comfortable with it I definitely hope to start renting more often when shooting for clients (covered by their budget of course
).For anyone interested, here is a before/after of the first image, plus a list of the layers required to edit it. It looks complicated with so many layers, but each one is a subtle change, and the editing isn't as complicated as it seems. Mostly it's a lot of dodging, and I'll soon be recording a tutorial to show my dodging/burning process for skin retouching and sculpting (which I will gladly share with TPF).
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