Best way to recreate this shot

Mrbaker

Mrbaker

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Looking to recreate this shot I have led lights and studio heads but this is not something I've tried being backlit, is it the ssme principle of obtaining a black background as front lit .20170222_105707.png
 
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1.. Hire model: http://purpleport.com
2.. Buy 10m of white voile or maybe muslin fabric
3... Put this over the model
4.. Put a studio strobe behind the model facing back towards the camera
5.. Frame up and focus
6... Ask model to pop up onto her toes and count her in... 1, 2, 3 .... shoot!

EDIT: I forgot to answer you question on the black background. Yes the principles are always the same for this - essentially, just keep light off the background. This means keeping the background far enough away so by the time light reaches it, it's diminished in intensity. If the background is the same tone (shade) as the subject the the light needs to fall off by about 3 to 4 stops. It falls off by 2 stops every time you double the distance between the background and the light. In this case, the light going towards the background will be reflected off the cloth and the back of the model. If space is an issue, give yourself a fighting chance and put up a black background if you can - which is already 2-3 stops darker than your subject (although comparisons often don't make much sense when you're talking about light coming wards the camera). The best way is to just have a lot of empty space behind the model.


I've not used a cloth like that before (but I did buy 20m of voile last month :p) however I do like a bit of backlight (light behind model facing back to camera):-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/31996637963/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/29820487473/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/22920595439/in/dateposted/
 
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Scooter said:
1.. Hire model: http://purpleport.com
2.. Buy 10m of white voile or maybe muslin fabric
3... Put this over the model
4.. Put a studio strobe behind the model facing back towards the camera
5.. Frame up and focus
6... Ask model to pop up onto her toes and count her in... 1, 2, 3 .... shoot!

I've not used a cloth like that before (but I did buy 20m of voile last month :p) however I do like a bit of backlight (light behind model facing back to camera):-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/31996637963/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/29820487473/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/owenlloyd/22920595439/in/dateposted/
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Absolutely brilliant.
I think there's possibly a V flat to reflect a bit of light back to the model camera right too
 
Phil V said:
Absolutely brilliant.
I think there's possibly a V flat to reflect a bit of light back to the model camera right too
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Yes - I think you're right Phil: the light will bounce around in the cloth to fill in the sides on her body, but the light on the face is definitely not coming from behind. I should add there are other lights around the front in my examples too.
 
Scooter said:
Yes - I think you're right Phil: the light will bounce around in the cloth to fill in the sides on her body, but the light on the face is definitely not coming from behind. I should add there are other lights around the front in my examples too.
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Slightly OT.
But I do love your work and your 'how to' postings Owen - I've just realised I maybe haven't mentioned it before. I try to maintain a 'don't write too many sycophantic posts' strategy.
 
Phil V said:
Slightly OT.
But I do love your work and your 'how to' postings Owen - I've just realised I maybe haven't mentioned it before. I try to maintain a 'don't write too many sycophantic posts' strategy.
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Thanks Phil - really appreciate that, and I know what you mean: I sometimes hesitate to post links as I don't want to hijack the forum as a publicity vehicle, but sometimes it's easier to show an example, and in some cases, demonstrate that you're not just guessing and can actually do yourself, the things you're writing about :)

I learnt so much just from looking at posts from other photographers like Lindsay Adler, Joe McNally, Frank Doorhof, Dave Black, Jake Hicks, Karl Taylor and a load of others - it makes sense to pass it on :)
 
@Scooter don't worry about posting links or hijacking a thread it's great to see other ideas and learning how the shot was taken is a great insight.
Thanks for the input guys . I am borrowing a tailors dummy to stage the shot first to save time with my model.
 
Scooter said:
This means keeping the background far enough away so by the time light reaches it, it's diminished in intensity. If the background is the same tone (shade) as the subject the the light needs to fall off by about 3 to 4 stops. It falls off by 2 stops every time you double the distance between the background and the light.
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You came dangerously close to a good explanation of the inverse square law there! :D I use that quite a lot. It's surprising how even on a bright day you can get a dark background if you use a narrow aperture and rely on flash to illuminate the subject only and keep the background as far away as possible.
 
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Mrbaker said:
@Scooter don't worry about posting links or hijacking a thread it's great to see other ideas and learning how the shot was taken is a great insight.
Thanks for the input guys . I am borrowing a tailors dummy to stage the shot first to save time with my model.
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Why not a selfie? I bet you'd look gorgeous draped in muslin!
 
Owen has explained it very well.
It's actually just a simple semi-silhouette. A true silhouette, at its simplest, would involve bouncing a light off of a wall, with the light hitting the wall and nothing else.
A semi silhouette, again at it's simplest, would be the same but with a fill light at the camera position putting some light onto the model.
What you are aiming at here is a silhouette where you light the rear only of what is effectively a tent that's surrounding the model. If you want a semi-silhouette, again you put a weak fill light at the camera position.
But that isn't what the photographer did in your example, all of the light was from the rear, but it was overexposed, and light also bounced around the room, and these two factors (or faults IMO) created the semi-silhouette that we see..
Also, apart from the unsharpness, the thing that jumps out and hits me is that much of what should have been a simple shot was rescued (to some extent) on computer. Now, some computer work is always necessary, but it should be done to turn a really good shot into an outstanding one, not to rescue a poor one, and frankly you will be able to do much better if you control both the quality and the quantity of the light.
If you have the space, put black boards (big ones) either side of the model and just out of shot, angled exactly the same as the shape of her tent, this will add a dark edge that will really create some oomph.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Owen has explained it very well.
It's actually just a simple semi-silhouette. A true silhouette, at its simplest, would involve bouncing a light off of a wall, with the light hitting the wall and nothing else.
A semi silhouette, again at it's simplest, would be the same but with a fill light at the camera position putting some light onto the model.
What you are aiming at here is a silhouette where you light the rear only of what is effectively a tent that's surrounding the model. If you want a semi-silhouette, again you put a weak fill light at the camera position.
But that isn't what the photographer did in your example, all of the light was from the rear, but it was overexposed, and light also bounced around the room, and these two factors (or faults IMO) created the semi-silhouette that we see..
Also, apart from the unsharpness, the thing that jumps out and hits me is that much of what should have been a simple shot was rescued (to some extent) on computer. Now, some computer work is always necessary, but it should be done to turn a really good shot into an outstanding one, not to rescue a poor one, and frankly you will be able to do much better if you control both the quality and the quantity of the light.
If you have the space, put black boards (big ones) either side of the model and just out of shot, angled exactly the same as the shape of her tent, this will add a dark edge that will really create some oomph.
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Funny enough I've been looking at 8x4 black/white poly board's. I am going to try as many variations of the shot as I can and try to better the original image.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Also, apart from the unsharpness, the thing that jumps out and hits me is that much of what should have been a simple shot was rescued (to some extent) on computer. Now, some computer work is always necessary, but it should be done to turn a really good shot into an outstanding one, not to rescue a poor one, and frankly you will be able to do much better if you control both the quality and the quantity of the light.
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I was going to say that... this could be so much better with a bit of attention to detail.
 
juggler said:
I was going to say that... this could be so much better with a bit of attention to detail.
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I agree, the model has done her part, great body shaping, tippy toes and extended arm and elevated head and then the tog misses the shot! I'm just bursting to have a go at this myself, I'm sure I can screw it up just as well ha ha ha
 
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