Fabric and a Bathtub

On April 4th, I did my last Ohio model session, before my move down to Washington DC, with Madam Vida Muerta.  We usually work together once a year usually in the January/February timeframe on a project, this year we pushed it back till we were both vaccinated.  This shoot was a little special since it probably will be a while before we work together again, due to me moving out of Ohio, thus we did two different sessions.  The first session we did was inspired by all the old master paintings where the woman appears to just be wrapped in a lot of fabric.  With the main inspiration being the painting Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy by Caravaggio.  The second session was a take on the milk bath, but using black bath bombs in place of the milk, with deep red roses.  Both sessions were shot on the same day in the Elk Studio at Lion & Ram Studios,  the Elk Studio is nice because the main space is very large with a lot of natural light and  it also has an attached bathroom with a clawfoot tub that can be used.

We started the session with the fabric, because once you get wet you can’t go back. For the fabric session I draped one of the large couches with black, green, and white cotton based fabric. Then wrapped the lovely model in a deep green stain fabric. The model accentuated this look with a chainmail necklace. For lighting I used two speed lights coming through a scrim, and one speed light as a fill.  All three speed lights were on basic light stands.  While the room was full of natural light, it was not hitting where I needed it to hit, that is why speed lights were used.  I used my standard Canon 80D with a 18-200mm lens tethered to my laptop.  

My favorite image from the first session is a very simple image but it shows a strong confident lady. The directions I gave to the model were simple, think ancient Greek and Roman aristocratic women lounging.  I knew Madam Vida Muerta would understand these directions since she is a scholar of the ancient world. I also like this image because it shows off the necklace as a primary focal point. When editing this image I did basic edits, then faded it just slightly, and made the image a little more matte/muted than high impact glossy, which brings some softness to the image. I touched up the lightning a little bit on the model’s face to brighten it just slightly. I also added a slight orange/teal split tone to the image, and a very light vignette to finish it off. 

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter 1/100s, Focal Length 50mm

This second image from the fabric portion of the session, beautifully shows off the necklace and its overall size. The pose is also very strong, yet relaxed.  I did basic edits, soften the skin slightly, touched up the lighting just a little bit by adding a few highlights, and completed the image by adding a vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter 1/160s, Focal Length 40mm

This last photo from the fabric portion of the session I converted to black and white and went bold. For some reason this image was giving me 1970’s strong female movie lead vibes, possibly something out of a Bond movie.  The pose and expression are very strong, and just say I’m in control of the situation and my body.  I shot this image without the scrim with direct flash so the lighting is hard, which lends to the overall strength of the image.  When I converted the image to black and white, I wanted to keep the overall boldness so I accentuated the darks and lights slightly. I also did basic edits and touch ups to keep the skin looking smooth and eliminated any type of grain from the image. I finalized the image with a slight vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/250s, Focal Length 32mm

Now onto the wet portion of the session which involved the clawfoot tub and a black bath bomb. For this session I really did not like the whiteness of the tub because I felt it clashed with the blackness of the water and the deep red.  Overall I felt it did not work with the overall aesthetic I had pictured in my mind. So I draped a black piece of cloth over the tub, similar to how they had bath sheets in the bathtubs of the Renaissance period. To light the scene, I had a square softbox placed  at the foot of the tub, near the faucet, pointed down toward the tub at about a 45 to 30 degree angle.  When I needed extra fill light I brought my assistant in hand-hold a speed light directed towards the area that needed more light.  I also adjusted the lighting a little bit in post on several of the images to balance it out.  My only complaint about this part of the session, I blame on myself because I did not bring a step stool to get height, which I desperately need.  However, due to the location of light compared to the tub it would have been hard to get the stool in the spot that I needed it to be.  In the end I made it work, but I think I would like to reshoot this session in the future. It should be noted, I started with the model mostly above the water then had her slowly sink down. This works well because once something gets wet we can’t really dry it off and do it again. So goes the process of a water shoot.

My favorite image for the session is the one below, because it is very soft and feminine.  When editing the image I did add a bit more light to the model’s face, and when in and used some dodge and burn on the tulle to provide a bit of separation so it didn’t look like a red blob. 

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter 1/250s, Focal Length 18mm

This final image is a traditional milk bath shot, of the face poking out of the water surrounded by flowers.  The shot itself is ok, I’m not happy with how the roses were floating though, I really wish I could have gotten them to float upright instead of on their sides. I think if I would have let them open up some more, I could have gotten them to do that, but the buds were very tight , and I couldn’t even blow on them to open them up some.  When editing the image I added some additional light to the face to draw attention to it and added a bit of a vignette to the image.  This was one of those images where I wish I could have gotten more height so I would be more straight down then at a slight angle.  In the end it still turned out ok. 

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter 1/250s, Focal Length 50mm

Overall both sessions went fairly well, and working with Madam Vida Muerta is always a pleasure.  I will miss working and collaborating with her.  Maybe we will do some shoots together down in the DC area.