studio photography – lingerie photo shoot
Aiming for a sensual mood somewhere between Lingerie, Fashion and Art, I tried various lighting setups in the studio to get to the feel and look that I envisioned. I’ve worked with Carly Erin on other personal photo shoots before, and knew her playful and bold personality would help a lot with this photo session.
camera settings for image at the top:
1/160 @ f10 @ 100 ISO
equipment used:
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H) used at 100mm
Westcott 7′ Parabolic Umbrella (White / Black) (B&H)
Profoto D1 Air 500 W/s Monolight Studio Kit (B&H)
Profoto 10 degree grid (B&H); Profoto 7″ reflector (B&H)
The lighting set-up is straight-forward. The main light is the Westcott 7′ Parabolic Umbrella (B&H), which I also used in the recent photo session with Ulorin Vex. I scalloped the Parabolic reflector away from the background, to minimize the amount of light falling on the background.
I used the other Profoto D1 head as a background light to give that slight gradient there to the background. This light wasn’t diffused, but had a Profoto 10 degree grid (B&H) on it. This grid, connected to the flash-head with a Profoto 7″ reflector (B&H), is there to control the light from this flash-head.
Similarly, I used my Profoto 600R kit as a third light, which acted as the rim-light on her. This too had a 10 degree grid on it to minimize spill light.
And there you have it. A straight-forward setup that gives interesting, slightly moody light on Carly Erin.
Similar to the vintage photo session Sarah R, and the urban photo-session with Molly K, I used a home-brew recipe in Radlab, to make the image pop with more contrast and add warm tone to the B&W image.
related articles:
photography books by Neil vN
newsletter / forum / workshops & seminars
Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
If you need more direct help or instruction on flash photography,
I do present workshops & seminars and also offer individual tutoring sessions.
If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by
using these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies. Thank you!
What a beautiful photo. I really appreciate how your site has the hyperlinks to related articles and the equipment used. I find it hard to leave once I get here as each link is another layer of information. You mentioned Radlab. I use TRA1 and TRA2 from Totally Rad. I was curious if you prefer Radlab vs. the older actions and how often you utilize it in your workflow.
Comment by Dave — November 29, 2012 @ 10:01 am
I like how soft the lighting is, especially the hair light. I don’t do studio portraits because of the “look” of strobes (especially the hair light can look so fake), but this lighting you did here is making me want to try it. Thank you so much for this post!
Comment by Laura — November 29, 2012 @ 11:25 am
Comment by Neil vN — November 29, 2012 @ 5:14 pm
hi, good stuff!!!
could i ask what background was used?
thanks
Comment by j — November 30, 2012 @ 6:26 am
Comment by Neil vN — November 30, 2012 @ 11:33 am
Thanks so much, Neil. Any chance you could share your black and white conversion method/s. I particularly like your warm tone on this image.
Comment by Stuart — November 30, 2012 @ 4:50 pm
Stuart,
Here is one link on that very topic.
http://neilvn.com/tangents/2008/10/20/a-little-less-gray/
Comment by Trev — November 30, 2012 @ 6:12 pm
Comment by Neil vN — December 1, 2012 @ 7:32 am
Beautiful image Neil.
I love the way you’ve achieved such subtle results with your hard lights with just a splash of highlights in her hair and a hint on the background.
Her pose is spot on but it’s the lighting that makes the image pop.
Comment by Pat Bloomfield — December 7, 2012 @ 10:11 am