Daily Photo – Scarlett All Done
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.
Scarlett removes her shoes at the end of the shoot.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/125
- Aperture: f/1.4
- ISO: 800
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm, f/1.2L
Composition and Processing
- I shot this at f/1.4, so I knew very little was going to be sharp. Since the primary element in the shot is the activity at the shoe, I chose to put that in the plane of focus. It helps that the face is obscured, which would have competed for attention.
- Shooting at an angle made it a little more dynamic, but more importantly it helped balance the composition. Because of Scarlett’s lean, shooting vertical would have felt awkward, like she was about to fall over (although given more negative space to work with, could have been made to work). The way she is supporting herself, even pushing, with that left toe, helps counter the right tilt.
- I tried three different processing styles (below), but in general I think stuff with nice gradients tends to lend itself well to black and white, cross processing, bleach bypass and anything similar (contrast helps too). If it works for one, it probably works for the others.
Cross Process:
Black and White:
Original:
June 01 2009 05:25 pm | Photography