The Astronomer

On March 30th, I did a session for the lovely Natalie of Archaic Costumes & Designs for her constellation dress.  I specifically reached out to her because this dress really inspired me and helped me tap back into my creative side.

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix strobes 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stands 1 grey canvas backdrop Sandbags 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 grids 1 3x6’ silver reflector A-clamps Ladder	1 blue velvet curtain 3 yards crushed blue velvet 2 yards grey velvet Books Table Bench Electric candles Telescope Skull Astrolabes

The set up

When I saw the dress, I immediately thought of the Renaissance and a few paintings showing Renaissance astrologers, thus the theme for the shoot was born.  To keep with the theme, I started with a hand-painted grey canvas backdrop and then draped a blue velvet curtain and a length of crushed blue velvet fabric over it.  I did this to create depth and mood.  I then placed a table, slightly left of center, and covered it with grey velvet cloth.  This tied the table back to the backdrop while providing contrast to the dress.  I then added props such as books, candles, a telescope, and other items to give the impression that this was an old astronomer’s workspace.

The theme also influenced my lighting and final editing choices because I wanted the final images to look painterly and give off a Renaissance vibe. For lighting, I started with my main light, a strobe with a grided rectangular softbox placed almost 90 degrees off my left side.  I raised the light high and pointed it down to try to mimic moonlight coming in through a window.  The goal was to ensure the light hit the model's face and spilled onto the table.  I then lined up the silver reflector to this light on the opposite side of the set.  I then placed the second strobe with a grided rectangular softbox about 45 degrees off my right-hand side.  This light acted as fill light.  This was my baseline lighting configuration; it changed as the shoot progressed to get different looks while keeping the theme. 

Camera Settings

For this session, I used ISO 200 with an aperture of F5, and a shutter speed of 1/200s.  My focal length ranged from 26mm to 88mm, with most images being taken at 43mm.  I went up to ISO 200 so I could capture a tiny bit of light from the candles to help with post-processing.

The Photos

For these images, I tried to keep the editing consistent across the set.  I started by adjusting the white balance, exposure, and contrast.  I then slightly increased the clarity, vibrancy, and saturation.  I then applied a lens correction setting to the image and straightened the images.  I have a hard time shooting level.  From there I adjusted sharpness and luminance.  I then added a medium vignette and an orange (highlight) / teal (shadow) color grade.  I then cropped most of the images to 8.5x11 inches to meet publication standards and others to a 1x1 ratio.  Afterward, I pulled all the images into Photoshop to enhance the glow on all the candles and applied a neural filter to even out skin tones.  Depending on the photo, I may have also added some gradients and masks, but overall, these were my standard edits for the set.  Now, let’s talk about some individual photos.

There were so many good images from this set that it was very hard to pick my favorites. So, let’s start with this image which I think perfectly captures the theme of Renaissance astronomer.  I like this image because the blue velvet frames the model nicely, while the grey backdrop and grey velvet provide contrast to make the model stand out.  The prop and pose of the model help tell a story.  The lighting works, as the light softly illuminates the model’s face and provides just enough light for the table and props.  Additionally, the props, specifically the candles on the floor, create a leading line up to the model.  Finally, nothing gets lost in the shadows; while the photo is dim, it is not underexposed.

 

This next image shows off the detail of the bodice while still telling a story.  There is a partial framing element with the blue velvet drape in the background.  Also, the candle helps sell the lighting on the model’s face.  While I could have possibly cropped this in tighter, I felt that the objects on the table helped tell the story and keep the astronomer theme going.

This image is a standard portrait, which I could see as an oil painting.  The portrait is regal yet elegant.  In this image, I changed the color grade from orange/teal to orange/blue.  I did this to warm up the skin tones and pop the golds while keeping the shadows cool.  Additionally, I felt the orange/blue worked better to show the candle as the light source for the image.

Now finally least you think I only captured ¾ length shots, or all sitting images did do some full-length shots.  This image also used the orange/blue color grade.  In addition, I used a form of Rembrandt lighting; if the model faced straight onto the camera, the telltale light triangle would be present.  I also added a small circular gradient to the model’s face to very slightly increase the brightness of her face, to help show the candle was providing light.

Overall, I’m delighted with how these images turned out.  I was able to tell a story while capturing the theme and highlighting the dress.   The images have a consistent feel throughout the set, even though I switched from an orange/teal to an orange/blue color grade for some of the later images.   The images have the painterly look I was trying to achieve through lighting and editing.  Finally, this session let me tap into my creative side and take a break from the more analytical work I have been doing for my regular day job.  You can see all the images from the session here: The Astronomer.

Credits:

Model: Natalie (Instagram: @nat_archaic)

Dress: Archaic Costumes & Designs (@nat_archaic)

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