The Pumpkin Barron

On October 12th, I had the pleasure of working with the marvelous SunnyRae.  The general theme for the shoot was pumpkins but with coordination on outfits with SunnyRae theme evolved into official portraits of an 18^th century Pumpkin Baron.

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott Strobe 1 rectangular soft box 1 strip box 1 6x6 silver reflector 2 C-stands 1 light stand Boom arm Color checker clamps Sandbags Backdrop stand Rough canvas backdrop	Pumpkins Rough canvas drop cloth Flowers Old trunk Books Letters Wooden crate Fake leaves Chair Tri-level plant stand

 The set up

I wanted to keep this set up a bit rustic yet give the feel of staged aristocratic painting of the time.  I started with a plain rough canvas backdrop then placed an old steamer trunk into the scene. I then placed the tri-level plant stand which I covered with a second rough canvas cloth. I then arranged the pumpkins and flowers. To balance the set I added a plain wooden chair and a crate full of pumpkins to the right side of the scene.

For lighting, I started with a strip box. I raised the strip box up as high as it could go and pointed it down to create rim lighting on the top of the pumpkins and side of the model while lighting the backdrop.  The second light (main light) was placed to my left in line with the model.  I also had a large 6x6 reflector located on my right, which was used to fill shadows.

Camera Settings

For the camera setting, I used ISO 100, with an aperture of F8 and a shutter speed of 1/200s.  My focal length varied from 24mm to 94mm, with the most common focal length being 35mm. 

The Photos

The base edits for all photos started with adjusting the white balance and exposure, after which I ran the Spyder color checker software to create a color profile for the image set.  This allowed me to ensure the colors, especially the skin tone, were correct. I then applied a medium contrast tone curve and adjusted the vibrance and saturation of the image colors.  The challenge with all these images was that the model’s skin tone was close in color to that of the background; thus I had to ensure the two did not blend.

This first image is a very classic pose you can find in several paintings from the 18th century of well-to-do gentlemen or men of importance. These paintings tend to have the gentleman standing and surrounded by items they value or of importance.  In this case, we created the story of the pumpkin baron who is having a portrait commissioned of him and his prize-winning pumpkins.  When editing this image, I also added a small radial gradient to the face to account for the slight shadow from the hat. I also added a violet (shadow) / yellow (highlight) color grade which works with the color of the pumpkins.  This color combination is known as analogous-complementary.

This next image is formal yet relaxed and shows the “Barron” holding one of their prized pumpkins.  For this image I added a gradient along the side of the face and body closest to the light to separate it from the background a bit more.  I also removed the seam in the backdrop.  I like this image and think it would be an excellent painting.

This third image is not historically accurate because no self-respecting gentleman of the age would pose in such a relaxed manner.  I especially like the expression as it works with the relaxed pose. It gives the impression of one sitting outside by their barn reading and taking in a crisp autumn day while trying to catch the eye of a particular visiting lady friend.  Very scandalous.   This image also has a gradient along the side of the body closest to the light to add a bit more separation from the background.  It also uses the same violet/yellow color grade to add depth to the shadows and help pop the highlights.

Now the reason I enjoy working with SunnyRae is because they are fun to work with and have creative ideas.  Such as this image below which is a play on Rene Magritte’s “Son of Man” painting.

Final Thoughts:

I always enjoy doing a session with SunnyRae, they are just fun to work with and bring a ton of energy to a shoot.  I’m also happy they went with my suggestion to sit on the floor for the last few images as I think it is something different unexpected for the time period represented by the clothing. If I were to do this shoot again, I think I would stick a strobe with a colored gel behind the truck to add dimension to the backdrop or find a larger painted canvas backdrop to work with.  While I have two painted canvas backdrops neither was wide enough to accommodate the set.  I might also remove some of the flowers and just focus on the pumpkins to shrink the width of the set itself.  Finally, I also might replace the silver reflector with an umbrella to act as fill and transition the strip box to the boom arm so I could have it pointed down directly over the set.  With every session I refine and modify for the next, so even if I use a same base concept/theme the images are always unique session to session.   You can see all the images from the session here: Pumpkin Barron.

Credits:

Model and Seamstress: Sunnyrea ( IG: @SunnyRae37)
Design: Heather (IG: @munchkin_photos_by_heather)