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Pink Flowers


On May 11th,  I got to work with Susan, who won a free photoshoot from me.  She won the session by commenting on a post on my Facebook page, thus winning a 60-minute session, 10 high-resolutions images, and one print. The post was held back until she selected her photos from the shoot. This shoot was inspired by a Pinterest picture that used a bed of flowers and dry ice fog.  For this session I used a bunch of pink and beach colored peonies, and pink tulle to create the background.

For the session I used the following items:
  • Canon 70D
  • 18 -200 mm lens
  • Strobes with power supply
  • 7-foot reflective umbrella
  • C-stand with boom arm
  • 2 speed lights
  • RF-transmitter
  • Tether line
  • Desktop
  • Foam core board (to make a corral for the fog)
  • White backdrop
  • Pink tulle
  • Fake peonies
  • Dry ice and hot water
  • Step stool
  • Handsome assistant
I did two set ups for this session using a large 7-foot umbrella placed on a boom arm.  In the first set up the umbrella was positioned directly over the model, who was laying on the flowers and tulle.  I then placed 12-inch high by 24-inch long foam core board round the model to create a little corral to keep the fog from the dry ice in.  Before bringing the dry ice, into the stet-up we took a few shots without, just to be able to get comfortable working with the props and posing. After  doing a few shots without the dry ice, I placed a metal bowl in corner of the corral with the dry, which my assistant dumped hot water over to create the fog.  When using the dry ice, we ensure there was plenty of ventilation in the studio.  I shot pointing down at the model by standing on a step stool or directly over her.  This dry ice did not create as much fog as previously, and I believe that was because we were using large chunks this time around.  So, in the future I will be using smaller pieces which react quicker thus producing more fog.  In the second set up the model was sitting up and the umbrella was pointed straight on to the model’s face. Two small speed lights were placed behind the model to blow the background to give the images a high key look.

Now onto the image descriptions.  I shot 221 frames, edited 101 frames, and delivered 78 final images. I shot using ISO 100, with an aperture of F8, and a shutter speed of 1/250s. My focal length ranged from 18mm to 60mm, with the most common 28mm.    

Two of my favorite images from the shoot was taken early in the session. I edited both images so it would be soft, and slightly faded to give them a dream like look.  I also used a bit of frequency separation to smooth the skin out just slightly and highlighted a few areas using a doge and burn technique to add a bit of glow to the skin.

 




This image was taken after asking the model to play with the tulle. She place the tulle over her head and work with it. It is a little reminiscent of the Beyoncé pregnancy photo where she wore a piece of green tulle over her head with a flower background.  I feel this image works a little better and it is different then my standard work.  I might do a session in the future that just involves the model working the tulle, because I think some interesting images could come out that.


Overall it was a good session, that produced some very nice images.

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