Photography Thailand Forum

[Marc Schultz]

A shot I did today while tinkering around in the studio.

[anna]

Marc,....... you are too much!!!  You call this tinkering?  Even if I do one very, very seriously, it would not even come close to your tinkering.  But glad you posted it; it's a good inspiration to try out this style otherwise I would not have thought of.  Very nice. 
Possible to share any notes on how it was done?  Thanks. Anna

[agitlits]

Marc,

Your work is trully inspiring! Yes, I'd love some set up details, especially lighting.

Thanks in advance 

Alex

[Marc Schultz]

Thanks guys. Anna, it is a lot easier to tinker of course when you have a whole studio full of lights at your disposal 

The setup was actually very simple. It was one light raised on a boom from above with a softbox pointed at the white background. The model was placed in front of the background and a bit of the light bounced off the background and reflected back onto the model. Then a lot of levels adjustments in Photoshop to darker shadows and bring out highlights and or course a conversion to B&W.

There is actually a second light from the right rear giving a bit of backlight on the hair, but it did not add much. The main effect is really just that one light.

Best wishes...

[agitlits]

Thanks for sharing the set-up details. Is it constant lighting you used for this or a strobe?

Thanks
Alex

[Marc Schultz]

Your welcome Alex. Only strobe. In a general sense constant lighting (hot lights) are ever really only used for architectural interiors if at all.

I just realized I could have had another triangle if she had placed her hand on her knee instead of her thigh. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 as they say... 

[agitlits]

Your welcome Alex. Only strobe. In a general sense constant lighting (hot lights) are ever really only used for architectural interiors if at all.

I just realized I could have had another triangle if she had placed her hand on her knee instead of her thigh. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 as they say... 

Thanks, Marc. I see what you mean by another triangle. Yet, the shot is fantastic as is.

Alex

[geoff]

Awesome Marc! I aspire to one day tinker like you.  The explanation of setup, etc is great for learning.  When you talk about "another triangle", is that something that is more compositionlly appealing to you or are multiple (or different) shapes good things to think about for composition generally.  I loved the shot as is and would never have thought about creating another triangle. Thanks Marc.

Geoff

[anna]

Good idea on another triangle.  Good that we learn from what you haven't considered. 

[anna]

Just discovered now that I had missed the rightmost side of the image when I first viewed it.  I accidentally moved the cursor and saw that her head and all are complete.  The top part of her head, hair are standing on end of some sort?  Is this intentional or smoothing it a bit isn't a good idea?  Just wondering.

[Marc Schultz]

I was searching through some instructional portrait photography books I have as well as on the internet trying to find something on the compositional use of triangles in creating artistic looking photos of people. So far I have not been able to find anything in written form, but I have always applied the principle whenever I have been shooting any sort of art-nude type portraits. Basically, it adds more depth and dimension to images and it is believed the more triangles you have being formed by the body the better.

[geoff]

Marc, thank you very much for the answer and for searching for additional information.  Photography is a constant learning process.  I'm really enjoying this forum.  If you do have any books you can recommend, I would be very interested in checking into them.  Thanks again.

[Marc Schultz]

Your welcome Geoff. It is a constant learning process for me too. I try new things and I learn, or should I say I make mistakes and I get better from them.

Photography books are a funny thing and somewhat subjective I think. I never really got much out of them to be honest. I learned a bit about Photoshop from books though and a bit about lighting setups from the Pro Lighting series by Hicks & Schultz (no relation) published by Rotovision. Also another series on Lighting that is good is published by Silver Pixel Press, which is actually part of Rotovision as well.

Many of the good ones are out of print now, but you can find them often new on the internet from some of the smaller book companies.

www.allbookstores.com is a good place to search for out of print titles as with eBay. Hope this helps.

[geoff]

Marc, thank you.  I agree that photography books are somewhat subjective.  For me, it's a challenge to find books that have the right balance of technical instruction and creative emphasis.  As a beginner, some of the books are way above me and also I find that there are a lot of photography books out there which are just a showcase for the authors. 

In Bangkok, there aren't a lot of photography classes/schools/workshops so I'm trying to learn by other means.  Your suggestions/opinions/advice are a always a big help.

Thanks again.

Geoff

[Marc Schultz]

Unfortunately Thailand is not a good place for studying any of the arts that are not of local origin. As you may have read in the Forum, some of the people join classes at Alliance Francaise in Bangkok.

One way of learning though is to just take a lot of pictures, experiment with different lighting situations and equipment, read forums on the internet and ask questions. Also look at pictures of photographers that you like and compare them to yours. See how maybe you can improve or learn from other people's pictures and techniques. It takes time, tenacity, a sense of imagery depth and space, creativity, and a strong desire to learn. If you put all those elements together I am sure you will do just great. Best wishes with it.