Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
The Story Behind the Picture this time is about coming up with a cover image and some inside images for an editorial in Australian people magazine featuring Los Angeles model & starlet Lana Kinnear who appeared in the movie Ironman with Robert Downey Jr. After sending the magazine some images of Lana they commissioned me to shoot her for a cover and editorial. For the shoot I wanted to do something that was fun and upbeat so I used this yellow shinny backdrop for the fun shots with Lana in a sexy black swimsuit and I also use a shiny dark blue for some of the editorial inside shots. We shot some other images that had her on a workout bike and also using some light weights. The lighting was going to be reflex in the backdrop so I would have to think were the lights were going to be placed and also at the same time I would need to highlight her to give some separation from the backdrop. We use a side light to edge her and two large front lights (Half domes) to light her up. As you can see the black swimsuit looks great against the yellow and in the shiny dark blue backdrop we use a white swimsuit this way her body was always front and center. Check out my lighting diagram so you can see how it’s all done. Now here is the kicker I shot this in an apartment living room in Los Angeles, I did not need to rent a studio for this shoot which helped keep my budget down....
Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
I get requests from people on Instagram that would like me to shoot with them but, a lot are just looking for free photo shoots. Many people are posting images of themselves for promotion on Instagram but not of real jobs or work! I also post my work on Instagram because it’s a way of being seen by a lot more people than just my website for promotion. The business of social media is such a big deal now days that is why I do it. My story here is about a model Alice Bradley that sent me a message that she wanted to shoot with me if I was interested in her look and as I have not shot a super fit model in a long time I thought it would be cool if I could get some images for my blog and video channel, So I agreed. Alice Bradley has a super fit body and is very into working out and eating all the right foods to stay young and fit with a positive outlook to life. I set up a day when we could shoot and thought about how I would show off her shape with the use of some side lights and one-half dome soft box for my main light and as you can see in the diagram below, I set the front light a bit to one side of her and used a silver reflector as a fill. I had one half dome and a strip light to the back sides (Left and Right) of her for sharpening that would help make her stand...
Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
A fantasy bunny mask look with the very sexy Mishel who has lovely long blonde hair which worked out great for my shots. I wanted to shoot what I thought would be a sort of fantasy look with the black and white stripes. If you had seen another shot I had done with Playboy® Playmate Barbara Moore on a swing you would have seen a similar corset & stockings before. I am big on using props as much as I can get away with. When you spend money on outfits you have to get the best out of them and stockings are easy to keep using if you take care of them. The model was the one that came with the shoes so that’s a new twist and I had the gloves to add to the look. These images were shot on a white backdrop with a ring light to get a look that I could work with, I took the image into Adobe® Photoshop and used some filters on it for the look that you see in the images. I used a Canon 60D with a Tamron lens Zoom 28-75mm F6.3 1/125sce ISO 200 My real focal length was 40mm I find that a lot of the time if I shoot 3/4 images or full length I am at 40mm. That is why I have a 50mm stm lens that I like to use most of the time. On a crop censer it looks about an 85mm which would be on a full frame, but it really is a waste of time thinking about what the focal length...
Playboy Playmate, Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
In these shots of Playboy® Playmate Irina Voronina for Maxim online I set up a white backdrop with some silver cards to add some dimension and interest to the shot. The white back drop needed to be white so I had two lights facing the backdrop they would be behind the cards so I would not have any light bouncing back onto the model. You have to keep the lights bright but not to over exposed or you will have some flair that will come back onto the model. I would say the best way is to have them about 1-1/2 stops of light brighter than your front lights. Now with the cards on each side it made for a nice look of depth in the shots. Just have your model stand between them and then light her up with the use of some front light. You can use a ring light or soft box. I would not use round lights or modifiers as they will show up as a hot spot on the cards. So tall softbox would be the hot ticket or as I said I used a ring light. A ring light would that not make a hot spot because its in line with the model and she is stopping the light from showing up as I hot reflection. Now the nice thing about the cards is that they will reflect back light to light up the model from behind so you will not see a shadow, the white backdrop also helps with this as well. Working with a Playboy® Playmate Like Irina will help get...
Playboy Playmate, Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
This Playmate Poster story behind the picture is about coming up with an idea for a Signature poster of the lovely Playboy® Playmate Neriah Davis. I had seen an image of the famous movie star Brigitte Bardot and thought I could use this as a guide for one of my own idea’s something simple and sexy as I was shooting a Playmate. When you shoot for a poster company or for any one that you think will need to make a decision (Pick a shot) of what they think it's best to come up with more than one idea. My first idea was the Brigitte Bardot sitting on the floor topless with black stockings on, Neriah would have to cover her boobs to be able for the poster to be sold to the public. My other idea was to have her against a red backdrop in satin underwear. Each of these shot were going to be in the studio so I would have to come up with similar lighting that would work for each so that I could have them done in a one day shoot. The sitting on the floor shot was with a white backdrop and a nice shinny floor for some reflection as I did not want it to look like she had been cut out and was floating. The Red back drop shot was with a satin cloth draped from a rod across some back-ground stands. This shot was only going to be a ¾ shot so I did not have to do anything about a floor. The lighting was almost the same for...
Playboy Playmate, Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
My big tip when working with a model is talk and assist them in pose’s don’t just let the model go. I am fortunate to have a seasoned Playboy® Playmate to work with on this shoot, Barbara has many poses that she has used from her ongoing work with Playboy® and other photo assignments, that is what helps make a seasoned model. This story is about how I set up a swing and made my images look like a trapeze artist with Playboy® Playmate Barbara Moore. My first thoughts were how to go about making it safe to be on a swing and what outfit I should use. When working on a new project or set of images one of the things I like to do is think of the story line & have a starting point and an end point. You don’t just shoot and hope for the best shots to show up it’s not luck of the draw. I did find a corset which was black and white striped & I also found some stocking’s that had black and white strips on them. I had a white bower and white shoes that also went well together so things were looking good for the outfit. Now for the swing, I made it out of plywood and covered it with foam and black cloth I had drilled holes in each corner for the ropes to go through and twisted the two on each side together into one cord on each side leading up to clips that would go to rings that were in the rafters in the celling of...
