Todays Shoot - Enslaved

So for those who arent painfully aware, for whatever reason... my roots are deep in Black Metal! - so when the opportunity to photograph Enslaved AND Dimmu Borgir the same day AND! the first day of the tour. I was pretty much ready to put on corpse paint and set fire to something, I was so pumped.

First up was Enslaved, who I havent worked with before, but I was really pumped to get a chance to photograph because I have been listening to them since I was a teenrager haha.

So it was a bit chilly out, I took them across the street from the palladium into an open lot and did the first shot against an uneven concrete wall. I was hoping to get a similar feel as I did with the Vamps, but alas, these dudes are SO tall - it was difficult getting light both on them, and behind them with a single dish, in the same way I have in the past. SO! I took a few shots there and moved on. I didnt really work with any of those shots but heres one for an example...












anyway, since I wasnt digging that I went natural light, which seems to be how they are normally photographed on the mountains and cliff sides of Norway... this time.. the parking lot... of... worcester... ya. well I really liked what i got here I was shooting at 2.8 with the 70-200 at ISO 100 - really trying to kick that selective focus - then i tilted the axis a bit so the shot wouldnt be a boring straight on shot and it brings your eyes STRAIGHT to the singer... SEE!












Next shot I did was with lighting - i used a bare with parabolic behind them, but instead of pointing it down as ive been doing i angled it more toward their back so the leading lines wouldnt be so overpowering and the shadows would be less harsh. then i boomed a large beauty dish above them and raised it up as high as it could possibly go - because norwegians are apparently like 300 feet tall each. - i shot these at an 80th (to bleed in the sky) at F16 ISO100





























aaand that was the end of that shoot, which I loved the outcome because we have three very different images to work with, the dudes were pumped on the raw images i showed them back of camera, so thats always a plus!

on to DIMMU BORGIR!

Todays Shoot - Betty (NSFW)

Todays shoot is with a model from upstate NY named Betty

We were going to be shooting for the corpse paint project but also decided to shoot some supplementary stuff for comp books I'm featured in annually

We started off shooting for the goth/industrial/fashionfetish style stuff ive been shooting for near 3 years now - which i will eventually compile into a book, but its been featured in a few books already.

anyhoo - we started with split lighting - two soft boxes set right up to the background, which, lighting wise, i love it because it gives you the soft lighting, the mid level shadow so its not flat, and gives you an even flow from light to shadow. Whether it was a cowboy hat, or the fithnets she was tearing up, i wanted to use alot of shadow play by placing her wardrobe where it would cast partial shadow, I shot these with the 70-200 at ISO100 - F16























































































































Next we moved onto corpse paint, I purposefully shot all the corpse paint stuff one stop under to try and make the lighting even more selective, buuut ending up being a touch too dark. I should have done a half step under, but thats nothing that cant be fixed in post... these images are however, unedited. SO! - I started with the same lighting, but had her stand toward the front of the lights to cast a harsher shadow - these are shot at F18


































After shooting with split light, i boomed a dish up but instead of putting it straight down as i have been - i angled it a bit toward the side so the lighting would be a bit more directional - these were shot at F20


































All in all i like what we got - but I want to shoot more on location with this model, so hopefully in the near future we will be doing so!

Todays Shoot - Sadie (NSFW)

First off - did everyone see THIS?! - http://twitpic.com/1mpzop - thats right! REVOLVER MAGAZINE! has a small piece on my corpse paint project! - SHITS HUUUUGE!- way bigger then i had ever imagined.

anyhoo...

Neither of us could remember how we met - mayhem, twitter, who knows?! - anyway..

Sadie RULES! - Shes way into horror and being nerdy - my twin! haha.

2 things about this shoot - 1. all images are unedited 2. I will absolutely be working with this model again in the immediate future

I was SHOT from a very very very long day, and she had a shoot earlier in the day in NYC, so we were both kind of worn down.. So rather then doing an all out-full long shoot - we decided to do some quick stuff for the goth/fetish/fashion project then corpse paint.

I started off with split lighting - F10 - at a 160th - ISO100 - the entire shoot was ISO100 - on the mark 2 1ds - but in studio i shot with the 70-200 the entire time. - I used 2 profoto compact 300s at 50% power with 3x4 soft boxes on them.





































































































































After doing a bunch of sets on that I had her switch back into the cool leather/strip dress and did some shots with a boomed beauty dish from above - shot at F14 at a 160th - i should have shot it at a F16 to get that lighting a bit more selective - but thats always something i can sort out in post if need be












































































After shooting that we added CORPSE PAINT! - and tada - shot the same exact thing except this time I did jump my Fstop to F16






































After shooting on white i switched it over to black paper (not velvet) which usually reflects light and goes a bit grey - but I had the beauty dish far enough away from the paper so it would go to an almost pure black but not quite as dark as the velour black - same settings - 160th at F16






































We then switched to split lighting on white - two soft boxes - again the settings were F14 at a 160th

























































At this point i was very tired and she was yawning - but i figured - it was late enough in the day where we could hit the basement and do some shots real quick.

I loaded up two dynalite uni400s with cold tone umbrellas - i figured id shoot two umbrellas split and shoot her again in the future with just the beauty dish... it was so windy and cold that shooting outside wasnt even a thought... - we hit two spots - my settings for the entire shoot were F10 for the majority (last two shots - the horizontal ones - are F13). I shot all of these with the 24-70 2.8 - but has a huuuge issue with one of my fully charged dynalite batteries which just wouldnt recycle quickly at all - fully charged it was taking 30 seconds to recharge - UGH! - guess ill be sending THAT one in soon. - but alas - here are the photos



















































































all in all for a quick shoot - very successful - and shes not far away so im sure we will be shooting again in the very near future

Todays Shoot - Sarah (NSFW)

Sarah is one of my favorite people to work with, despite the fact that prior to this shoot we have only shot together one time.

she is a professional make up artist who is alllll over the place - LA, NYC, shes worked on countless celebs, movies, music videos, etc. (yes, even Gary fn Busey!).

Since our last shoot we have stayed in touch and planned to shoot again when she was in the area - but due to weather and schedules, this was probably the 5th time this 2nd shoot had been rescheduled for haha - but finally we made it happen.

She modeled for me a little over a year ago for the goth/fetish project (see below) - but this time I wanted to expand on that, add corpse paint, etc.






































So we started with the goth/fetish/fashion stuff - which to be honest - im sort of getting bored with now that i have the corpse paint book in the works - but I always need more content to add to production. I shot this with split lighting - two 3x4 softboxes on profotos at 100% - ISO100 - F16 at a 160th - I shot these with the 70-200 2.8 L lens mostly - for some reason I like that one the best in studio - I do switch out to the 24-70 every now and again but find myself really liking the 70-200 better

see unedited images below












































































In between these shots - we went back and fourth to a more fashion type of look - but I figured it was easy to just split them evenly for continuity sake on the blog. For these shots i boomed a beauty dish straight down - as high as possible - and brought it about 6-8 feet from the background to keep the background from going too white - the first stuff we did was with her gloves and black lace - which she wanted to shoot alot of - and second she had an awesome bowler hat that i thought we could do some nifty stuff with - the settings for this are F20 for the first set and F16/18 for the hat set - at a 160th - ISO100 - and i switched back from the 70-200 to the 24-70 a bit but again mostly stuck with the 70-200 - these were my favorite shots from the first (non-painted) sets

see unedited images below


















































































































We then went around the building and shot some industrial nude shots - i figured i didnt want these to be super creepy so i grabbed two dynalite jackrabbit kits - powered them to about 1/4th or so - and just used two umbrellas for the first few sets - i decided to just bring the 24-70 2.8L USM lens - as i wanted a good mid-lens for both wide and tele type shots. My setting on these are: F18 (electric panel) F16 (window shot)F14 (blue wall) all ISO100 - all at a 160th as i didnt want to bleed in any ambient light for this one.












































































for the next shot i used an umbrella at 1/4 camera left and another umbrella at 3/4 pointed up toward the ceiling/her shoulders to both light her evenly with the 1/4 light and also give background light - as i was going to be shooting from a very specific angle. What I wanted to do was shoot against the ceiling - to cut out everything around her cause i was sick of the blue/white walls and love the creepy panels of the ceiling - however - i wanted to make sure - shooting at that angle - that i 1. wasnt getting an unflattering or extremely pornographic image and 2. the background was lit enough for seperation. So I did some very specific posing to avoid anything untasteful - and this is what we got - settings are F14 - ISO100 - 160th



















After finishing up that - we added corpse paint! yeayyy! for those who dont actually know why im doing the project - or whats behind it - please check out - www.jeremysaffer.com/corpsepaint - for all the info

now - i figure shes an incredible professional make up artist so her corpse paint was going to be AMAZING (and i was right) - during the process she got some black paint in her eye - and started tearing - which made cool black tears - but i needed solid lines for this project - sooo i had her wipe it away so she wouldnt go blind or something - and she redid it with real makeup and did an INCREDIBLE job! lots of inverted crosses! just what was needed!

For the on location shots I brought only a beauty dish/boom - which i wish we had more time i would have done some things differently but it was getting VERY late and we were both feeling tired.

I started out just outside my studio on a white wall and put the dish directly against the wall so the rest of the hallway would go dark and give VERY specific lighting - then for the hallway shots - i just moved it over a bit to the middle so it would splash some light on the side but still have a dark hallway - the settings for this are F16 - iso100 - 160th - again trying to not bleed in any ambient light. - and again i was shooting the 24-70



















































After that we moved to the basement and shot again a green metal door (i love how metal reflects light and use it to my advantage always) - but i jumped to F20 to really make it SUPER SUPER dark - then we shot just outside of the door at F18 - same settings as the shots above






































I wasnt really feeling what i was getting in the basement that day - maybe i was tired - or something - but I wasnt into those shots until i looked at them way later that night - I was kinda over it before i even started shooting it - so i was stoked to get back to the studio because i know ill like those shots.

So we started on white with a boomed dish - i set the FStop to 18 - again - iso100 at a 160th - and got alot of shots i really really dig from this set - these were shot with the 70-200












































































then we switched up to split lighting with the same settings, and these i was into some of them - but again when i get SUPER tired i just get to the point where i cant produce work ill be completely satisfied with - but these shots below i did like alot.


























































after that we shot on black and i just didnt like the shots - we were both so so tired that after something like 10 shots we both agreed DONE! and went home and watched movies.

Sarah is an incredible model, and incredible makeup artist and hopefully I'll be able to work with her again sooner rather then later - I really want to get her back up here next month to shoot more when we are both more awake!