Body WORKS

Final Photo with the shadow on the painting eliminated.

 This photo was made at a reception for the four painters featured in Body WORKS, a collection of paintings including portraits and figure studies Luckily for me, there was convenient parking at the rear of the gallery because, as usual, I bring much more equipment that I eventually used. I had planned to arrive at the studio at 4:00 pm, and have everything ready to go for a quick shot at 4:45, just before the reception's 5:00 pm start.

My go to key light was a Godox AD200 flash with a bare bulb in place of the usual reflector mounted in an Adorama copy of the 24" E-Z-Box, The only reason I use the knockoff over the original is convenience - The Adorama version is much more compact when collapsed. For a fill light, I used a speedlight in front of the camera aimed directly at the floor. The fill is minimal, but may be more effective if I cover the floor with a large piece of bleached muslin, which for some reason escaped my bag.

I chose this setting for a number of reasons. First, I thought a street-level view would be a novel background. Second, there was already a large painting available as a contextual element. Also, they was room for my subjects to sit just below the bottom of the painting. Finally, the afternoon sun provided a shaft of light that I might use to accent one of my lucky seated subjects.

You can see from this preliminary location shot that there was a puddle of direct sunlight reflecting off of the hardwood floor, and I knew that if any of my subjects could she their own shadow on the floor they would enjoy the benefit of this free highlighting from behind.

The original plan was to photography the artists in a two sitting, two standing arrangement. However, when I arrive I learned that one artist couldn't make it, and another wouldn't arrive until 7:00 pm. The photo couldn't wait until then, so I started arranging the shot with the two subjects that were already there.

First Attempt - Notice the shadow on the left edge of the painting.

I would have been quite happy with this shot taken early in the session were it not for the shadow cast on the left edge of the painting. I moved my key light to be closer to the lens axis to give a more "top lit" effect, and told my standing subject to move slightly to his right. This did the trick, but I must admit that my seated subject's smile was slightly less charming that it was in the first shot.

Since the lights were already set up, I offered to photograph the individual artists next to samples of their work. I did this photo of Hugh Leeman using the same E-Z-Box clone, but positioned for a steeper angle to minimize the glare on his paintings and to position his shadow away from the outline of  his head. There was some light falloff, but it was corrected in post production. I wish I could have arranged for a kicker light to separate his left arm from the dark painting in the background, and I would have, if I had more time and freedom to work. But the guests had arrived, and i thought it best to capture the shot as quickly as possible.

I was happy with both the results and the actual shoot. Convenient parking, cooperative subjects, interesting backgrounds, and some time to experiment.