I am aware that there should have been a post on conceptual art photography even before the one on Negative Space but then I have been very lazy about wading through my backup archives. I do have stuff that has been shot recently but somehow the photos I have in mind are exactly what I want to post up here since it is was shot to a very relevant extreme. I doubt that that photo can be used as general stock shot anywhere else.
Since my lethargy is keeping me from doing that, I am putting up a portfolio that I had done recently. The shoot was supposed to be done outdoors but when I went to her place to pick her up I found the one of the rooms done up way to brilliant not to shoot there.
The original plan was to shoot outdoors so I had my reflectors but no lights. Luckily, the Nikon D200 and the SB-800 are killer combos. I mean how cool is it to trigger the flash wirelessly? Especially when it comes to people who still expect wires as far as dedicated flash is concerned. I am talking about people in general not directed towards anyone in particular.
I am trying to figure out how exactly to explain the lighting setup. I mean it was very basic, the on camera flash that triggered the speedlight wirelessly. What I had done was cross lighting. The subject is in the center with the two light sources roughly at 45 and 135 degrees from the model. Simple yet effective and plus you have the model’s friend to act as a tripod since you forgot to pack one while leaving. Understandably the epitome of being unprofessional but desperate times, desperate measures.
In this shot, the main source of light was sunlight filtering through an open window (not visible in the shot, obviously!). Now while for normal shoots, the one’s that I do for the magazines and tabloids Auto White Balance is good enough, when you have the opportunity to roam, ROAM! I switched over to the Daylight setting since the colour temperature AWB rendered in this case was a little too tame. This was actually a test shot of sorts, it just came out so good that I had to use it. While testing I shoot JPEGs. Agreed, while shooting RAW, White Balance (WB) hardly matters but for me getting everything right as much as possible on the camera matters the most. That and the fact that post-processing involves me sitting still. I need a tutorial on how to do that.
This was just phase one. We still planned on going out but when I reached my usual salon for her make-up, I was shown the door since the make-up artist was down with all possible ailments that make-up artists are susceptible to. A major part of the shoot was scrapped thought I did still manage to shoot off a few rounds. I did a few shots outdoors a few days from then, they should also be up soon.
