A Mermaid Session Two Ways

On August 1^st, I did a double session with the lovely cosplayer Sara go Bragh, in my in-home studio space.  For this double session we did a mermaid shoot two ways, one a little unconventional and the second in a more conventional way.  For the first session I placed the lovely mermaid in a tub full of clear ball pit balls. This was a play off one of my previous sessions with some overtones of the movie “Splash”.  For the second session we got wet, in the fake pond that I made using a blow-up pool. 

For these sessions I used:

• Canon 80D
• 1 Speedlight
• Light stand
• 2 C-stands
• 2 Strobes
• 2 Square Soft boxes
• Trigger
• 18-200mm lens
• Ladder
• Black backdrop
• Backdrop stand
• Pool
• Tarp
• Exercise mats
• Plastic tub
• Clear ball pit balls
• Fake plants/flowers
• Water

For the first session the set up was relatively straight forward. For the first session I place the tub in the center of the space and some white towels and rubber ducks. You cannot take a bubble bath without a rubber duck.  I also used the double wood doors at the back of the space as part of the background so there was no need to set up a backdrop.  To light the scene the two strobes with soft boxes were placed in opposite corners angled towards the tub.  Very simple.

For first session I used an ISO of 100, and aperture of F6.3 with a shutter speed of 1/250s.  Using the exact same setting for the entirety of the shoot did make doing the editing easier and quicker. My focal length ranged from 18mm to 35mm with a fairly even distribution between them.

My favorite shot from the first session is seen below.  I like the shot because it is fun and a different type of mermaid photo.  To get this shot my assistant and the model’s handler stood off to either side and tossed the ball pit balls at the count of three to make them look like floating bubbles.  We did this several times to get the shot, even though I just held down the shutter button.  So, when I did go through the images, I deleted several of the same basic image, just with the balls falling in different spots. When editing the image, I went for a high key look to keep the happy playful feel of the overall image.  I did some basic adjustments and finished with a very light vignette.  I kept the images very simple.  

Now on to the second session in the fake pond.

The second session was done out on my enclosed back deck. For this set up we placed exercise mats down on the deck, then placed the pool on top of that, to protect the pool.  We also hung a tarp on the deck enclosure to prevent sunlight from interfering with the shots.  A black backdrop was placed on the pool as a base background. I then put a back drop stand across the back of the pool and wrapped that with fake hanging wisteria. I then stuck plants into florist foam, attached to bricks (the bricks held the foam down) and placed those into the water. I then covered the foam and bricks with some river stones, and finished off the pond by adding some lily pads and water lilies. The strobes were placed at the end of the pool pointed down towards the water.  The strobes provided the main light for the scene. I then had a speed light on a small light stand I could move around for any sitting poses or use as an extra fill light. I also had a ladder at the edge of the pool so I could get height to shoot down. 

For this session I shot using an ISO of 100 and an aperture of F6.3. I used three shutter speeds 1/125s, 1/160s, and 1/250s. My focal length ranged from 18mm to 80mm with 28mm being the most common focal length.  Had to make sure I could fit the whole tail into the shot, I was a little worried the whole tail might not fit in the pool.

Posing while floating on your back in water is challenging on its own, but adding a mermaid tail adds an extra layer to that challenge.  Sara did a very good job posing. I used the same approach I use for all my water sessions; a slow phased submerge into the water, because once your wet you can’t go back. 

I had a bunch of favorites from this session, but my absolute favorite is the one below. This was the very last shot from the session. The posing and expression are perfect, and I like how the lily pads and water lilies are surrounding her. When editing the image, I made sure to keep her features soft and add a bit of a glow of a glow to her skin, to keep a magical feel about the image.  The image is cropped to a long 11x17, so the whole mermaid tail can be seen. 

The next image is a close-up, before submerging fully in the water. While mermaid shots typically focus on the whole mermaid, I wanted to make sue I got some nice close ups too. I like this image because it gives off the feeling of a mermaid daydreaming.  I got this shot by having her lean against the side of the pool which I covered in a moss mat and adding the speed light as fill, since the strobes were more aimed down towards the water.  When editing I kept the image soft, removed minor blemishes, added a medium vignette to the image.

This final image is just a fun image, of a mermaid resting and thinking happy thoughts.  This image was a bit hard for me to capture because I did not have enough space to back up properly to ensure the whole tail was in the shot, while getting the correct angle.  I did manage, thankfully I had a lens that could go wide.  I did not use the fill light on this image, because the strobes provided all the needed light. However, during post I slightly brightened her face and reduce some of the shadows. When cropping I specifically included just a little bit of the moss to make sure I didn’t cut off her elbows and second to give the perception of land nearby. The image is cropped to 8.5x11 inches. Yes, that is an odd crop, but that is the size publication want.

Overall, this was a great shoot that turned out some great photos. However, there are some things I would do different if I were to do it again.  For the first session I would have added some pin-up styled poses to the set, changed my shooting angle a bit, and finally do a few with her sitting on the towel outside the tub.  For the second session, I needed to have rotated the plants 180 degrees, so they were on the same side as my strobes.  This would allow me to shoot straight down and have the model’s face and upper body surrounded by the greenery.  The other option is just to invest in some scaffolding that I can move over the pool and shoot down from any location, instead of being limited by ladder location.  Unfortunately, my deck does not allow me to rotate complete around the pool, that only way I’ll be able to do that would be to set up in the garage. I might do that next time.  Every time I shoot, I have some lessons learned or think I could have done that better, but I think that is normal for every photographer.  You can see complete set 1 here and set 2 here.

Note images from session 2 were published in September in the fine art issue of Top Posters Magazine with one image making the cover.