Daily Photo – Brigitte in White
The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/1.4
- ISO: 50
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
- Lighting: Zeus head in 60″ softlighter above camera right; second bare zeus head on white backdrop; 4′ x 8′ foamcore as reflector camera left
Composition and Processing
- I’ve been trying to combine super shallow depth of field with backgrounds that either blow out or, conversely, seem to absorb the model into pitch black. The idea is to let the edges of the subject vanish, leaving only primary elements (for the most part) to define them. The shallow depth of field is meant to match the light bleeding through– i.e. as the subject fades to white they’re simultaneously losing sharpness.
- By having Brigitte put her hands in her hair, the arms provide nice lines that lead to the eyes (the only element in focus in the image). In this particular case, they’re nearly symmetrical, affording a rarely used (for me) center crop.
Original:
February 06 2009 06:30 pm | Photography