Sarah
Sarah and I connected on Instagram. We talked about shooting and struggled a little at first over the details. For example, she required a deposit for the shoot, which some models do.I won’t pay a deposit. As is often the case, some good discussion cleared things up, we compromised and were able to schedule.
She was very professional and showed up on time and ready to go. We started in front of anice, neutral gray wall which is most of my studio. Sarah had some nice, simple slacks and lingerie to start with. We shot nudes here as well, and some of my favorite B/W images fromthis shoot were captured here. I wanted to break things up, so we moved on to the stair well to shoot art nudes. Lots of great captures here of Sarah’s slender, fit form. Finally, wemoved back into the studio. A lovely red lingerie set was next, and I moved over to black seamless paper to make the color pop. In all, this was an excellent shoot.
The Takeaway: Lighting is (almost) everything. As we got started, I wanted to play around a little with the lighting mix to show her the differences between setups.
Frame 2 is a single main light with a kicker, or rim light, opposite. I call this 1-2-3 lighting, with the main light as #1, the subject as #2, and the kicker as #3.
I decided on the lighting solution in 27, with the standard main, a light fill and a light kicker to create nice depth and shadows with a little highlight on her ear to catch your eye. I love the pose and lighting in this one.
I had to include frame 384, since it shows how dark hair can resolve well against a dark background with a large, main light and a gentle kicker can be just right. Also, how could I not share this lovely pose?
Frame 6 is a standard main & fill shot, and I turned the kicker way down. You can see how it flattened her features in comparison.
We did some great B/W art nudes work that day. In 144, the tones and shadows are just right in this 1-2-3 setup.
In the next frame, 7, I added the kicker back in and backed down on the fill to get some shadowing and add depth.
Natural light is a favorite of mine for art nude, and this shot worked so well. Her face and upper body are lit well, and contrast against the window ledge. On the back side, the shadows on her torso are nicely demure. Frame 211 is great example of how complimentary a relaxed, elegant pose and a large, natural light source can be.
You can find fashion and nude sets from this shoot in my Patreon store.
I don’t have a have her current Instagram for Sarah. When I contacted her via email, she said she was mostly retired, but I hope to coax her back to my studio again!
