Russian Beauty: Tanya at the river

[Derrel]

A recent shot I did last weekend during some very hot weather, approaching 100 degrees, even at the time we shot this photo, which was made using nothing more than the 7:00 PM sunlight and careful positioning of the subject in relation to the direct sunlight. I like working in this kind of light, which is found at around 10-11 AM and from 6 to 9 PM in the summer. I liked the crispness of the light and the way it acted a lot like a 20-inch parabolic reflector...well-defined as to direction, somewhat hard light, with a good shadow. I shot this photo with a 200mm lens at 1/2000 second at f/5, using ISO 250. I used a monopod. B&W conversion was done in Photoshop CS2, using my normal "gradient map" conversion from Nikon raw.

 

[michael9000000]

Nice!

 

[Robin Usagani]

I had to double check that it was really you who is sharing a photo . Her arm on the right look a little weird though. It looks like she has popeye the sailorman bicep.

 

[Rick58]

LOL...Good catch Schweety.
Very nice shot Derrel

 

[gopal]

Despite strong sunlight, the soft tone of the skin is catchy.....I like hard contrast pix. thnx.

 

[cgipson1]

Very nice, Derrel!

 

[tirediron]

Nicely captured Derrel.

 

[Derrel]

I had to double check that it was really you who is sharing a photo . Her arm on the right look a little weird though. It looks like she has popeye the sailorman bicep.

Yeah, I know...that was my biggest complaint about the picture too, Schwetty...the pose is not quite as good as I would have liked...I wish I would have shot it looser and then had more cropping flexibility later. I tried cropping it out, but that didn't look right, so I went with the uncropped frame. She's kind of a "fit" gal, and she does have a pretty solid set of biceps on her. She has good "tone", shall we say.

I did back up a bit more for this shot with the 200. I like this LIGHT, but I think there's a bit too much brightness on her upturned palm area...prolly oughtta burn that down I suppose.

 

[pgriz]

Light is good, image is good. The only nit is that there are two sets of straps, and perhaps the image would be stronger if it had only one or the other. Out of curiosity, why was a monopod necessary if your shutter speed was 1/2000 sec?

 

[unpopular]

hey Derrel - the 90's called...

 

[Robin Usagani]

why was a monopod necessary if your shutter speed was 1/2000 sec?

Cause derrel has a back problem.

 

[Derrel]

Light is good, image is good. The only nit is that there are two sets of straps, and perhaps the image would be stronger if it had only one or the other. Out of curiosity, why was a monopod necessary if your shutter speed was 1/2000 sec?

Yeah...the two sets of straps...I suggested she ditch the tank top and just go straight bikini! But she wasn't comfortable with that look. This summer, a lot of the younger gals are wearing this "bikini top under tank top" look around here...I think it's horrible...I mean Katy Perry said it best, when she layed down the law: "Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top."--there is NO mention of a tank top on top in that song!

I was using a monopod because the camera weighs around four pounds, and the 200mm lens weighs right around 7 pounds, AND it's exceptionally short and front-heavy, so it's pretty tiring without the stick. That lens wants to nose-dive pretty seriously.

 

[jwbryson1]

Great eyes!!

 

[mjhoward]

it's exceptionally short and front-heavy, so it's pretty tiring without the stick

 

[pgriz]

<snip> I was using a monopod because the camera weighs around four pounds, and the 200mm lens weighs right around 7 pounds, AND it's exceptionally short and front-heavy, so it's pretty tiring without the stick. That lens wants to nose-dive pretty seriously.

Gotcha. I thought it might be just the convenient tool to beat off the ogglers when you were working.