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Tangents

Can you identify what inspires you and your work?

February 4, 2010

This striking photograph was taken by Stephanie Zettl, who as our guest blogger this time, tells us more about how this image came to be …

Can you identify what inspires you and your work?

by Stephanie Zettl

Inspiration should not be confined to one thing. The more we study and experience art, music, and films the more material we have to enhance the style and impact of our photography.

My most recent magazine cover was based on my love for music. The different musical genres influenced the style of the dress, hair and makeup of the shoot.

The cover photo is my homage to Herman Leonard – a photographer famous for his photos of jazz musicians – and all those wonderful jazz movies of the 1940s and 50s. I wanted my model to take the role of a Jazz Diva singing in a lounge. In order to emulate this look, I knew that I would be shooting in black and white, my lighting would have the look of strong directional stage light, and a little grain or “noise” would not be a bad thing.

That being said, this was still a fashion shoot and I wanted the main light on my model to still have a beauty light aspect to it and show off the dress and styling in a flattering way.

The stage that we were working on was equipped with four spot lights that could be slightly directed to illuminate the stage and the musicians. Because the dark lounge also had some wall sconces that I wanted to make sure showed in the photo, I had to make sure my metering took them into account. I think they add to the mood of the photo and give a sense of space.

I brought my Profoto lighting kit, but found that because of the light levels for the existing lights, I could just use the modeling lights to balance with the other lights. They effectively became “hot lights” or constant source lights instead of strobes. Though there are some disadvantages, I actually like working with hot lights when possible because what you see is what you get when directing and shaping your lighting. (Video lights, like the Lowel ID light, are also considered constant light sources and you can find several of Neil’s articles on their use here.)

I had one light in a soft box to camera right on the model to provide soft frontal beauty light. There was a second light without a diffuser placed behind the trumpet player to provide separation from the background and rim light on my subjects. It also helped to further enhance that feeling of being on stage.

To give the intimate feel of a lounge setting I shot through the piano player to frame my model. The final shot was made at 1/60 sec, f2.8 at 1000 ISO.

Stephanie Zettl and Chuck Arlund will be teaching a workshop entitled, “Inspiration, Application and Advice” February 10, 2010 in Nashville, TN. The workshop will include a morning seminar, an afternoon of shooting great models and an evening review of the photographs created during the workshop. The morning seminar will focus on finding inspiration and developing your style in a saturated market. During the day there will also be great advice about interacting with your clients for the best results and of course lots of great lighting demonstrations.

For more information visit: www.arlundworkshops.com or  www.zettlphoto.com/blog

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