Skip to main content

Ivy Headpice

ISO 100, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/100s, Focal Length 18mm
On February 9, 2020 I worked with the lovely Vida Muerta, to shoot an ivy and red flower headpiece I made last year and never got to shoot.  This is turning into an annual thing with Vida Muerta and I shooting in late winter when it is cold out.   

For this session we shot at Oakes Quarry Park, because they still had some snow on the ground and in the trees.  I used my Canon 80D, an 18-200mm lens,  two speed lights (one as a flash the other as trigger), and one light stand. I kept the set up simple to allow for easy movement around the area.

For this session I shot 100 frames, edited 61 images, and delivered 30 final images.  All frames were shot at ISO 100, with all but 10 frames were shot at an aperture of F8.  My shutter speed ranged from 1/50s to 1/250s with most frames being shot at 1/100s.  My focal length ranged from 18mm to 50mm, with most frames being shot at 18mm. 

ISO 100, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/200s, Focal Length 32mm
I going to say this shoot was a little difficult for me, due to balancing the flash with the high diffuse sun, and reflection off the snow.  The sky was a lousy sky when we shot, with it being just a washed out blue/grey color and the way the sun was hitting the back ground it made everything look very flat. Thus, when I popped the flash it made my lovely model look like she was pasted into the image instead of an integrated part of the image. In this case I think I needed a second flash just to pop the background a little bit, since it was looking very flat.  I did try dialing back my flash but then my model looked flat, and I was losing detail in the headpiece, so that did not seem like a good option.  I might try to shoot this series again, when we head back into winter and I adjust the headpiece slightly. You can see all the images from the shoot here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2025

This year felt a little off for me; I think it was because I was in a mental recovery mode.  I finished my graduate program in June and immediately went on a week-long vacation to Palm Springs.  I do not recommend Palm Springs in June; way too hot.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the graduate program mentally and physically exhausted me, which I think showed in some of my creative work.  But being able to work with great people like Natalie Hanrion , Coralinx Cosplay , and Anastasia B kept me motivated.  While I didn’t attend as many Cosplay Photo Shoot events as in the past, the ones I did attend were helpful in keeping the creativity flowing.  I also took some time this year to reflect on a few things and will be making some changes for 2025. In 2024, I shot 6241 frames, which is a 30-percent decrease from last year.  I edited 3187 frames, which is a 40-percent decrease from 2023.  I think this year, I started focusing on being very min...

First Session of 2025 - Queen of Hearts

My first official shoot of 2025 was with Lady Cels on January 4 th , to shoot her Queen of Hearts cosplay based off the NoFlutter Design. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 60-inch umbrella with sock 1 rectangular soft box 1 bell reflector grids 2 C-stands 1 Platypod Sandbags Backdrop stand Savage Primary Red Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps   Gold ring wedding altar pieces Playing cards Flowers Styrofoam block Scotch tape     The set up The inspiration for this shoot was obviously the Queen of Hearts, but I took my set design cues from the original NoFlutter drawing.  I wanted to create something similar to the swirls used in the background of the image, so I started looking at wrought iron garden fences and ended up on gold we...

Snow Session

On January 9 th , Washu Cosplay and I did a slightly impromptu snow session at Great Falls National Park.   This was possible because of the passing of the Explorers Act which allows photography in a National Park with a model without a permit.   Before you get too excited, the law limits equipment and the size of the party; you are allowed your camera, tripod, and handheld lighting equipment, and the group can be no more than 5 people, which includes the photographer, model, and assistants.   So, there are no big lighting setups or big crews; for big shots, you will still need a permit.      For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 speed light 1 light stand     The set up For this shoot I was mixing flash and natural light.  In most cases, my model was partially backlighted by the sun.  Thus, I u...