Todays Shoot - Laura Mae D3 (NSFW)

Day 3! which happened about a week or two after our first shoot

She got a new wig she wanted to shoot in which I thought looked wicked cartoon/anime - I used the same set up of setting two 3x4 soft boxes about 8 feet apart so there would be no real harsh shadows - and had her face toward the light for most of the shoot so one light would be hitting the hair while the other would be catching her face and eyes. - These are at F13 with the 70-200is - iso100












































































After shooting with the soft boxes - i took a smaller beauty dish - boomed it but kept it close to the model rather than raising it all the way up - then shot at F8 for some reason i can even remember - i was probably just experimenting with the lower Fstop to see if theres a big difference between my normal F18-20 to F8 on this type of lighting - and no - not much of a major difference aside from minor depth of field focus -anyway - here it is!



















so being that this was just a quick shoot - we just did this one set with plans to shoot again in the future - but alas - my schedule got hectic and she done moved to arizona - so hopefully one day she will be back to shoot again!

Todays Shoot - Jane Doe

Still playing catch up - im about 10 shoots behind! workload has been INTENSE but ill do my best to keep up with em!

Todays shoot is with a good friend, and "ladies of metal" model - Jane Doe. I'm not sure if shes named after the converge record? *shrug*

Anyway - we had two days to shoot a slew of things, as shes from Texas and is very rarely in the area.

The first day we focused on in-studio goth/industrial and on location fine art.

We started off with the goth/industrial/fashion project - which is shot with 2 3x4 profoto softboxes on compact 300s - I used my 70-200 for the entirety of the in studio shots - I tend to use the 70-200 in studio and the 24-70 for all location stuff - then the 16-35 and fisheye for live concert stuff.

ANYWAY! - so i was shooting at ISO100 at a 160th F14 with the split lighting

I never shoot these ONLY straight on - ill go left and right to offset the shadow so its not always centered, because that would just be boring. Anyway - LOOK! PHOTOS!





















































































It was getting darker out - about 8pmish, but we decided to go outside anyway and work with what we had. I wanted to shoot in the same spot I had shot The Acacia Strain just a few days earlier. I used two umbrellas on dynalite uni400s - i just used them as split lighting - as it easily gives a solid halo of light for one person while giving an awesome natural vignette as well. Anyway - these were shot at ISO200 (light was fading) at F14 - at a 100th - the shots against the concrete wall were at an 80th - against the sky - a 125th - all shot with the 24-70



































































































































After that we rolled inside and did a quick set inside - same settings but i was at F16 as the lighting was a bit closer.


































We then rolled up to the studio for Corpse Paint! we started on white shooting with split lighting (two 3x4 softboxes pointed into each other) - seems once you have a standard set for this project - which i do - the settings are always the same - ISO100 - F16 - at a 160th - lights at 80% power. Its almost second nature once you know a set up like the back of your hand. and id say i know these set ups more than even the back of my hand haha.



















































After split I boomed a beauty dish up high pointed it straight down - and shot another one of those second nature sets where i know the settings will always be 50% power - F18-F22 (height dependent) at ISO100 at a 160th - when I shoot these sets I always place my softbox about 6-8 feet from the background so you get that midtone grey from a white paper background. and another thing to keep an eye on is where the models nose/face is pointed - if its up youll get full light - if its down - you wont even have a shot. right at you? then you get some shadowing, but it could work to complement the image - as it does often in this series




































































I wanted to shoot a bunch of location stuff but at this point we were SO tired we just hit the basement for a quick set with the boomed beauty dish - which in wider situations than the studio will give you a nice half-moon type circle of light which looks AWESOME in some situations. - these were shot at F22 at a 160th ISO100
























END DAY 1! - so for day two we planned out a big shoot but were all pretty shot. We did some pin up stuff then called it a day - as shes going to be back up here in about a month as my new roomate - yeay!

Anyhoo - the pin up stuff was shot with two 3x4 soft boxes and a 1x4 soft box main - for shots on the ground they were tilted down - These were all shot at F13 at a 160th at ISO100























































































I've said it before, and will say it again - when it comes to corpse paint photos - two giant inverted crosses in your arm pit as tattoos - are PERFECT! When she comes back - im sure we will be shooting an outdoor corpse paint set. Its quick a trek from Texas, I'm not sure if the winter will kill her...

Todays Shoot - Cam Damage (NSFW)

I first heard of Cam Damage via What Would Tyler Durden Do - which - if you dont read that site - you need to bookmark it now. its like perez hilton but funny/better. http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/04/tuesday-morning-headlines-10/

According to WWTDD she has one of the best butts in modeling. so I guess you can judge below.

I noticed right away that she shot for my good friend Bella Vendetta, so I figured she was local(ish) and hit her up to do a shoot.

She was SUPER pumped to come out and shoot - and was also getting rave reviews from my friend Bella.

According to Cam, this was her first real - big - shoot that she has done - ever, and on top of that - apparently the massive post on WWTDD didnt net her many solid shoots - so - other photographers... SWRONG WIT CHU!?

We started off shooting some stuff for my forever on going fine-art/goth/fetish/lingerie fashion nude project - which - if youve been following - is - split lighting 2 3x4 soft boxes profoto compact 300s - this time i turned the power down to about 50% - shot with the 70-200 at F16 at a 160th - at ISO100 - I messed with the positioning of the model a whole bunch in this shoot, some a bit in front of the soft boxes, some a bit behind but mostly between the two. - also to answer a question - in studio I tend to use the 70-200 the most because i really like the range over the other lenses I use - I stay telephoto because i really cut out all surrounding environment - and for those shooting in studio - i STRONGLY suggest this lens.

unedited images below






























































































































































































After shooting in studio we decided to go outside the studio - we did one quick shot in the hallway - which i have shot before but only at night - so shooting it with a grey sky in the window was kind of cool - for this i took the 24-70 - shot at ISO100 at an 80th - F14 - I used two cold tone umbrellas (silver lined, rather than white) w/jackrabbit uni400s turned down to half power. I generally used the 16-35 on location but i like the 24-70 a bit more because it still goes wide but gives me the leeway to go tight on some crops

unedited images below






































after shooting that quick one, we went outdoors and shot a bunch of fine-art nude stuff - but I wasnt really feeling it for the industrial areas -and it was already starting to get dark - i did some shots against the grey sky that i was cool with, but still not exactly what I wanted to snag - the settings for the sky shots are - split lighting but angled a bit in front of the model to block out more shadows - shot at F14 at a 125th to have the sky go a stop darker than the model

unedited images below

























































on the way inside I found a spot that was being hit with solid soft lighting so i shot some naturally lit photos i really liked - the window behind broke up the monotony of the industrial area while the window - camera left - was giving her a good mix of soft light and hard shadows - these are at ISO400 - F2.8 at a 25th - see unedited images below
































































Then it was time for CORPSE PAINT! - because the light was fading and nearly gone - we started outside - I shot all of these with a single uni400 Jackrabbit dynalite with a soft box - boomed up very high - pointed straight down - at 50% power - but then i jumped down to 25% power to save battery. The first shots only were F22 - the rest are F14 (due to the power change) - I did three sets outside and three sets in the basement - but you cant really tell the difference.. all ISO100 - and with the 24-70 - unedited images below





































































































































































































After shooting outdoors I had an idea to shoot her on the toilet - just cause i thought it would be funny - so i boomed a light above one of three stalls and got this for the hell of it - it probably wont get used anywhere but - i thought its kinda silly - these were at F20 as the light was a bit closer to her than the outdoor shots - unedited images below



















































we finished up in studio - both on white - first with split lighting - same settings as the first set - 160th - but i jump up to F18 to darken a bit more for the corpse paint - then the last set was with a boomed beauty dish - and jumped up to F20 - if you pull a beauty dish away from a background it gives it an AWESOME dark scrimmed light which you can see from some of the on location images as well - with white - it makes it go grey - even dark grey - which i think really works to pop the corpse paint in these shots. - unedited images below
























































































































































Cam is awesome - hopefully she will be coming back in the next month or two for another shoot!