For some reason, the photos appear to be soft at 400px wide, trust me, they aren’t.
Nude photo shoot with Susana in a barn located outside of Grafenwoehr Germany.
I had replied to a post on grafyardsales.com about a photographer who was looking for other photographers to shoot a professional model with. I got a response almost instantly from Chris saying that the shoot was going to happen in two days. I got a little bit more information about the shoot and went to scout the location with him. We arrived to our location and found an awesome old barn and garage. It was a great location. Chris brought his light meter (he also shoots a medium format film camera, so he has to be more exact) and started measuring a few of the areas we were interested in. I decided to go with the ‘i’m not much of a strobist’ approach and deal with it once I came with my speedlights.
The big day arrived. We got back to the barn about an hour or so before the model so we could get everything setup the way we wanted and test our lighting setups. I had read quite a bit about strobist photography, so I knew I’d have to have some sort of background light. I set my 430EX ii behind where the model would first be seated and dialed it down to 1/8th power. Seemed right to me at the time, although in hindsight I wish I had set it down to 1/16th. I blew out some of the background roof supports on a few shots. I had my 580ex II setup to camera right at 1/8th power with a Stofen diffuser. Both were triggered by Cactus V4 triggers (which are cheap and do their jobs well).
Susana finally got to the location with her manager about an hour after we were supposed to be meeting. Another local photographer was up first to shoot. She took about 15 or 20 minutes getting her shots in at the tractor. This being my first time with a professional model, I figured I’d start there. I took a few test shots and told the model to start doing what ever it is she does. Susana understood and started her work. It must be hard to be good looking. Haha.
We moved to a few other locations, Chris and I alternating our time with Susana. I never once gave her direction as far as how to pose, I’d only move to different locations and she’d follow. It was amazing to work with someone who knew what they were doing. Looking back now at the shoot, I wish I had brought a few extra things: my tripod (I accidentally left it in my car) and a softbox. The Stofen diffuser worked…But I have a feeling a softbox would have been even better. And more AA batteries too. My flashes had to be turned off then back on quite often. But that might have been a ‘sleep’ feature too.
Until next shoot (the middle of October),
Adam
