Rubber Duck Revolution

On July 15^th, I did a session with Anastasia. This session was all about the rubber duck and the colors blue and yellow. 

For this session I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Canon 80D 18-200mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix strobes 72-inch umbrella with sock 43-inch ocatbox 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stands 1 black backdrop 4 blue plastic table cloths Sandbags	169 rubber ducks Boxes Blue wrapping paper Kiddie pool Ball-pit balls

The set up

The baseline set up for this shoot was relatively simple, and inspired by the 80’s and 90’s adds using minimalistic geometric shapes.  I started with hanging the black backdrop to block light coming in through the windows. I then taped together the four tablecloths, which I hung over the black backdrop to make the actual background for the set. Next time I’m just going to buy and use seamless.  I then placed the boxes wrapped in blue wrapping paper into the set.  Once the boxes were in place, I started placing all 169 rubber ducks into formations in and round the boxes.

Once the ducks were in place, I set up the lights.  I placed the 43-inch ocatbox, my main light, to my right at about a 45-degree angle, and then the 72-inch umbrella, my fill light, to my left a bit less then 45-degrees. I was going for a bright commercial look, so I didn’t want a lot of shadows.

Camera Settings

For this session I used my Canon 80D with my 18-200mm lens. I used ISO 100 with an aperture of F8, and shutter speed of 1/160s.  My focal length ranged from 18mm to 80mm with most of the images being taken at 24mm.  

The Photos

My lighting changed very little throughout the course of the shoot, thus my editing was the same for all the images.  In post, I did the standard exposure and white balance. I then adjusted the HSL/Color sliders to refine the overall colors a bit more, mostly pulling down oranges and reds. I then adjusted the color of the backdrop to make it a little more vibrant. I pulled all the images into Photoshop to remove the seam where the tablecloths overlapped. That little exercise convinced me just to use seamless from now on, when I want a solid color background. I also did some photoshop work on the model’s outfit to remove some panty lines, loose strings and smooth out the fabric a bit. I finalized all images by adding a light vignette.

My favorite image from the shoot was after I removed the boxes and substituted a kiddie pool filled with ball pit balls.  I like this image because it is fun and playful but with a touch of seriousness from the model’s expression.  I went with a square crop as that perfectly fit the image even if I cut off part of a rubber duck.

This next image I like to call “Duck Nation”.  In away this is a bit of juxtaposition photograph with the model in a strong power pose, surrounded by playful yellow rubber ducks in perfect formations.  Begs the question is the model going to lead the ducks into battle or is she just the queen of rubber ducks?

This next image is cute.  But now that I’m looking at it more, I should have moved an elevated row of rubber ducks to the center of the frame, as then it would appear she is surrounded by and casually lording over the duck.  Also reminds me slightly of the image of George Lucus surrounded by Star Wars props.

 

Overall, this was a very fun little shoot. There are a few things I would do different, such as figure out a way to suspend the ducks in midair. Probably would involve fishing line. I would also defiantly use seamless and wrap the boxes in the seamless so everything matched. You can see the full set here: Rubber Duck Revolution.  Also, a select number of images are expected to be published in Vanity Wall Magazine.

Credits:

Model: Anastasia (Instagram: @brunklestein)

Headpiece/Wig: Heather of Munchkin Photos (Instagram: @munckin_photos_by_heather)

Set Design: Heather of Munchkin Photos (Instagram: @munckin_photos_by_heather)