Celestial Goddess

On January 24^h, I worked with the lovely Lillith Gloom. This would be the third time I shot the crystal and pearl headpiece, so I wanted to change it up just a little bit. To do that I hung plastic diamonds from strings and suspended them behind the model, which changed the theme from winter to celestial. For this shoot the model brought her own make-up artist, the very talented Scarlett Walker. 

For this shoot I used:

• Canon 80D
• EF 18-200mm lens
• Tether
• Flash Trigger
• Black backdrop
• Backdrop Stand
• 2 Phottix strobes
• 30-degree grid
• 2 speed lights
• 5 light stands
• Grey card set
• Clear thread
• Fake diamonds
• Poles
• Snoot made from speed light wrap
• Technical solutions provider (i.e., my husband)

Light Set Up

The lighting for this shoot was simple yet difficult. The challenge was to light the diamonds to make the sparkle, which requires hard non-diffused light, without lighting up the backdrop or the model. Then having a second light that is directed on the model but not interfering with the light, lighting the diamonds. To accomplish this, we set two light stands up in front of the back drop, with attachments that accept a pole/bar, and placed the bar with the diamonds on it. Then we place one of the strobes on top of the left-hand side light stand pointed at about a 45-degree angle down towards diamonds. We then snooted that strobe to focus the light. To light the model, we placed a second strobe with a grid on it, in front of the background placed about 15-degrees right of center. This light was raised up then pointed down towards the model so it would light her face and upper third of her body. We then filled with two speed lights on light stands which sat about 3 feet high at 45-degrees from center on each side pointed towards the model to fill the lower portion of her body. This ensure the model was evenly light from head to toe, even though most of the shots would be ¾-length shots. The only thing I did not consider when lighting the set was how the clear thread was going to show up. Since the thread was clear nylon, it reflected the light when hit with the flash, so instead of the string blending in, it stood out. So, in post, I had to go in and remove all the strings. I should have just used black string, lesson learned.

For this shoot I used my standard 18-200mm lens. I was shooting at ISO 100, a shutter speed of 1/200s, and using an aperture of F18. Yes, that is a very high aperture, and the reason for that was to ensure that the diamonds behind the model were in focus the whole time. The usual aperture of F4.5 and even F8 make the diamonds blurry spot distractions instead of part of the scene. My focal length ranged from 20mm to 145mm, with the most common foal length being 50mm.

For this shoot I started with the model in front of the diamonds, which worked but was not truly spectacular. So, after several of those shots I moved the model to in between the diamonds.  I was using two separate rows of hanging diamonds about 6 inches apart so it worked to place the model in the diamonds. By placing the model in the diamonds, the images became more dynamic.  It also changed the lighting slightly. The gridded strobe no longer was my main light, the snooted strobe became the main light, and I filled with the two speedlights.

My favorite image from this shoot is of the model between the diamonds, looking up at the strobe with a soft gaze looking as though she is hanging the diamonds in space. To me the image conjures the thoughts of a celestial goddess, possibly the universe herself or the moon hanging the stars. When editing this image, I had to go through and remove all the strings. The easiest way I found to do that was to create a black layer since the backdrop was already black, and mask out all the strings. It was a lot easier and quicker then using the healing brushes. I then went in and used frequency separation to even out skin tones and create a soft glow on the face. I added a few highlights and balanced out a few of the brighter spots on the image. I concluded by removing any stray hairs or strings in the image. (ISO 100, Aperture F18, Shutter Speed 1/200s, Focal Length 50mm)

(ISO 100, Aperture F18, Shutter Speed 1/200s, Focal Length 50mm)

Now because the images reminded me a celestial goddess, I did something I usually don’t do, and added an overlay.  I felt the images really had that galaxy goddess vibe so I found galaxy overlay that aligned with the lighting in the image and overlayed that onto the image.  To overlay the image, I added it as a layer and used soft light, which allows the image to show through on everything that is black or darker then then the overlayed image. I don’t do this a lot so the final image shown below may need additional tweaking, but I believe it gets the overall feel across and isn’t bad for not doing this very often. I think I may work on creating composite images this year, it may be a useful skill for some of my cosplay work.    

Overall, I’m happy with how this shoot turned out. If I did it again, I would use thread that matched the color of the backdrop to hang the diamonds. I also would add an extra layer or separate the layers a bit more, so the model really could work within the hanging diamonds.  You can see the complete set here.