Skip to main content

Meet Up at the Dupont Underground

On September 21st, I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots’ meet-up held at Dupont Underground. The Dupont Underground is an abandoned trolly station, under Dupont Circle, which was transformed into a special events and art gallery space.  

For this session I used:

  • Canon R6
  • 2 Speed light
  • Trigger
  • 1 Light stands
  • 24 - 105mm lens
  • Gels

Camera Settings:

This location was underground and dimly lit except for the areas for the artist showcase, and a tunnel that opens to the outside.  So, my setting changed based on the light.  For this shoot, my I used two main ISO, ISO 100, and ISO 400.  I also took a few images at ISO 200 and ISO 1000.   I used an aperture ranged from F4 to F13 with the most common aperture being F5.  My shutter speed varied from 1/50s to 1/250s, with the most common shutter speed being 1/200s and 1/125s.  My focal length ranged from 24mm to 53mm, the most common being 24mm.

The Photos:

This first image is of the always fun to work with Coralinx Cosplay as Futaba Sakura from Persona 5.   This image was shot with a mix of natural light and flash.  The natural light is streaming down into the open through a grate creating the light patterns on the wall, and a spot of sun for the model to stand in.  I used flash to ensure the model’s face was well lit and fill some of the shadows.  In post, I adjusted the white balance to make the image slightly cooler and bring out the whites.  I then up the vibrance and clarity to help pop the colors, and give the image definition, while using a medium contrast.  I then added a heavy vignette to help bring your eye to the model and help show that this is an area leading down a tunnel.

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter Speed 1/250s, Focal Length 28mm

The underground had a few tunnels leading off of it that used to be entrance or exits. One tunnel apparently was being used mostly for storage as maintenance entrance, making it a good location for the next two images.  The image below is of Walter as a 1920’s gangster, and to set the dark mood I used two lights, a gel, and some color grading to get the final look.  The first light is about 45 degrees of to my left.  The second light, with ½ cut CTO gel is just out of frame, on the steps pointed at the white walls, which fill in the shadows and give the image that old bare bulb feels.  Then in post I increased the exposure a quarter stop and applied a medium contrast tone curve.  From there I applied a teal (shadow) and orange (highlight) color grade to give the image a more cinematic look.  I then finished with a heavy vignette to make the image more ominous.

ISO 400, Aperture F5, Shutter Speed 1/125s, Focal Length 29mm

Now in this final image of Lena Lokesanna Volkova as Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” really plays into using the storage space.  The space already had the shop vac, gas can, and metal divider, we just needed to the garment bag with bones and the raincoat.  For this image I used two lights, the first you can see in the image, which adds to that serial killer working in a basement vibe.  While the second was out of frame acting as a fill light.  In post I reduced the exposure by a ½ stop and applied a medium contrast tone curve.  I then added two radial gradients, one to the model’s face to brighten it slightly.  Then a second to darken the area surrounding the model.  I then applied a teal (shadow) and orange (highlight) color grade, again to make the image a bit more cinematic.  Then finished with a strong vignette.

ISO 1000, Aperture F4, Shutter Speed 1/80s, Focal Length 24mm

Wrap Up:

The location was interesting and had some different space such as the side tunnels, a really dark area good for light painting and low light photography and nice white walls to add color to via gels.  I think the location would be great for a modern or streetwear fashion shoot.  The only issue we had was it was very hot and slightly humid in the underground, due to poor HVAC.    If I was just walking around and looking at art, it would have been fine but moving around a lot resulted in me being too warm. It also, didn’t help that I thought it was going to be cooler underground so wore pants instead of shorts.

You can see all the images from the meet-up here: Dupont Underground

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2025

This year felt a little off for me; I think it was because I was in a mental recovery mode.  I finished my graduate program in June and immediately went on a week-long vacation to Palm Springs.  I do not recommend Palm Springs in June; way too hot.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the graduate program mentally and physically exhausted me, which I think showed in some of my creative work.  But being able to work with great people like Natalie Hanrion , Coralinx Cosplay , and Anastasia B kept me motivated.  While I didn’t attend as many Cosplay Photo Shoot events as in the past, the ones I did attend were helpful in keeping the creativity flowing.  I also took some time this year to reflect on a few things and will be making some changes for 2025. In 2024, I shot 6241 frames, which is a 30-percent decrease from last year.  I edited 3187 frames, which is a 40-percent decrease from 2023.  I think this year, I started focusing on being very min...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Optical Spot

The weekend of November 16 th , I got a little ambitious and did four sessions to test out the Lindsey Adler Optical Spot .     I originally rented the optical spot from LensRentals , but that session had to be rescheduled; however, I didn’t want the rental to go to waste, thus a TFP weekend. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 1 Optical Spot 2 strip boxes 1 bell reflector grids 2 C-stands 2 light stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Savage Fashion Grey Seamless Gobos Gels Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Star filter Red Curtains Posing stool     The set up While I did four shoots in one weekend, the lighting setup was basically the same for all four sessions; what changed was the gels and the gobos.  I started with a fashion grey seam...
Post a Comment
Read more

Whispering Waters

On July 19th, I drove up to Poughkeepsie, NY to attend the Whispers of Waterhouse photo event held by Everlore Events . This was an all-day event, which included a light lunch, vendors, arts, and crafts areas, and three different styled shooting locations.  I was one of the roaming photographers for this event, which means you work with models who are not currently working with a featured photographer (who have schedules), and can wander between all three shooting locations at your convenience.  For this event I used: Canon R6 1 Speed light Trigger Umbrella Gels 24 - 105mm lens Camera Settings: This was an outside shoot that had sets in heavy forested areas, out on a pond, and sunny meadows; thus, I was adjusting the settings to the lighting conditions.  I used ISO 100 and 400.  My goal was to keep my aperture around f/4 to achieve a nice background blur; however, depending on the conditions, I had to stop down to f/9 and f/11 to manage the light...
Post a Comment
Read more