Sara Joyner VI (thought musing), originally uploaded by
@lifebypixels.
Via Flickr:
So I here I am wide awake, and in only a few hours I'll be getting on a plane to go take photographs in a place I've dreamed of taking pictures my whole life, Cuba. And yet, I sit here knowing that I could squeeze in one more bit of processing. Some extra work in the digital darkroom. Plus, I'm excited as hell to go, and working always calms my nerves.
But I digress, if you saw the other shots of Sara, you'll realize she's a great subject. And for this shot, the credit should definitely go to her for the concept. We were about to leave this scene/setup when she said "ok, but we should come back to it because I think sitting down and getting in the dirt could look good too". If there is something I've learned over the years, it's to listen to your subject. If they have an idea you need to honor it. Good or bad. If it's great, then you've empowered them and boosted their confidence, if it's not then you've fortified why they are working with you in the first place. Either way, it's a win-win. In this case, Sara rocked it. It was a great idea, and she emoted so well when she got down into scene. Honestly I sort of wish we had turned the hose on and just got it a little muddy and her hair wet like she was out in a rainstorm. That would have looked spectacular. But we had some other set shots to be done, so we will in fact, come back to this one...one day.
Shot with a large parabolic using a Nikon SB800 triggered by my SU800 commander. A low power SB800 was snooted to camera right firing down towards her face and window to reduce shadows and create some luminance around her and the glass. Post processing in photoshop involved a technique I call "crushing the blacks". It's not new, it is just what I call it. But it's a process of reducing contrasts and in essence flattening the image in specific zones. Then, you can control how/where you put those bits of contrast back in more selectively This essentially paints in contrast in more dynamic ways and allows me to offset those controls with variance of saturation and tinting in shadows and highlighting.
Thanks Sara for the great idea, and I can't wait to share more from this shoot. Now I better finish packing for Cuba!
@lifebypixels