The Munchkin's Notebook

On April 4th, I did my last Ohio model session, before my move down to Washington DC, with Madam Vida Muerta .  We usually work together once a year usually in the January/February timeframe on a project, this year we pushed it back till we were both vaccinated.  This shoot was a little special since it probably will be a while before we work together again, due to me moving out of Ohio, thus we did two different sessions.  The first session we did was inspired by all the old master paintings where the woman appears to just be wrapped in a lot of fabric.  With the main inspiration being the painting Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy by Caravaggio .  The second session was a take on the milk bath, but using black bath bombs in place of the milk, with deep red roses.  Both sessions were shot on the same day in the Elk Studio at Lion & Ram Studios ,  the Elk Studio is nice because the main space is very large with a lot of natural light and  it also has a...

  On April 3, I did my last Ohio cosplay shoot, before moving back to Washington DC, with Maker Fishmeal .  We shot her Barbecue Leona from League of Legends. Now the question became where do you photograph a character who has a giant hotdog on a stick as their weapon and a grill for a shield, well at a park on playground equipment.   I held this session at the Fairborn Community park because they had playground equipment and pavilions with picnic tables and grills, which work for the character theme. Unfortunately it was very windy that day, which was playing havoc with the cosplayers hat and turning the shield and hotdog into sails. Thankfully, Maker Fishmeal brought her handler with her, to help manage the props.  I was working without an assistant that day, thus traveling light. For this shoot I used my large portable light stand that can go about 8 feet and can handle uneven surfaces. A speedlight, trigger, and of course my Canon 80D with my 18-200mm lens....

On March 13 and 14, I worked with Gretchen and Brett Bartlett respectively.  These two shoots were inspired by spring, yellow tulips, and Lindsay Adler’s yellow themed photoshoot .   For this shoot I went with a more beauty shoot/make-up ad inspired look and stayed  away from doing full body.  I made a headpiece from tulips and daffodils, and used a yellow tulle top that I made for a shoot last summer.  I kept it simple for the background and used colored plastic tablecloths in purple, yellow, and pale yellow.  The disposable plastic tablecloths work great when you don’t have rolls of seamless paper or a place to store seamless paper. Only downside is you get creases where the plastic was folded, but you can eliminate that in post or by blurring the background in camera. Let’s hear it for bokeh.  I unfortunately did neither of these items and lived with the creases.   For the first session with Gretchen I used two strobes, one with a beauty...

Back on February 13th in honor of Katsucon, which was canceled,  I held an in studio cosplay photoshoot day.  While this was not a real substitute for a convention, it was still a great way to work with several different cosplayers,  at a reduced stress level, no crowds of people, and a very controlled environment.  Because the event went well, I will be holding another one again in the future.  Normally at a convention I will work with anywhere from 8 to 10 cosplayers in a day,  but on a studio shoot day  I only worked with 5 cosplayers, which lent itself to a more relaxed and creative day. I held my studio shoot day at Something Old - Dayton ,  one of my favorite studios in the Dayton area. I used their loft space due to its overall size, set up, and availability of furniture.  I really liked the fake fireplace that they have set up since it worked well with basically all the cosplays I was shooting that day.  Additionally, since thi...

On January 16 th , I worked with the lovely China Limehouse for a beauty shoot. This shoot was based around a white pearl and crystal headpiece that wraps partially around the face. Since this was a beauty shoot, I brought in a make-up artist (MUA). The MUA for this shoot was Ashley Peter , who used a white, silver, and blue pallet to go with the headpiece. For this shoot I used: Canon 80D EF 70-200 F2.8 Lens Tether Flash Trigger Grey backdrop Backdrop Stand C-Stand Boom Arm Beauty dish Phottix strobes Silver reflector Grey card set For this shoot I focused on the face and headpiece, so never went larger than a ¾ length body shot.   The lighting was a simple, using only the beauty dish which was set in front of the model and raised to be looking down at a 30–45-degree angle.   I then filled in the shadows with a silver reflector, which the model held in her lap.   I did not use the reflector for all the shots.   The variety in the shot...

On January 16 th , I worked with the lovely Vee the Doll . This shoot was split into two parts, the first part of the shoot used a Russian aristocracy inspired outfit, while the second part of the shoot used a silver gown and a pearl and crystal headpiece.  Because I was going for a specific glam look for this shoot, I brought in a make-up artist (MUA).  Tanvi was MUA I worked with for this shoot, and she did a wonderful job creating a glam look that worked with both outfits and really highlighted the eyes. The set for the shoot revolved around the first outfit, which was a long coat with fur trim and a large fur cowl collar. This was paired with a pill box type fur hat with a feather in it, and a fur muff. Note all the fur is fake fur. Because of the coat I went with a winter theme. Originally, I wanted to shoot this outside in the snow, however we did not have snow on the ground that day, thus I improvised by making my own snow.  I have a product called “ SnoWonder ”...

On January 24 h , I worked with the lovely Lillith Gloom . This would be the third time I shot the crystal and pearl headpiece, so I wanted to change it up just a little bit. To do that I hung plastic diamonds from strings and suspended them behind the model, which changed the theme from winter to celestial. For this shoot the model brought her own make-up artist, the very talented Scarlett Walker .  For this shoot I used: Canon 80D EF 18-200mm lens Tether Flash Trigger Black backdrop Backdrop Stand 2 Phottix strobes 30-degree grid 2 speed lights 5 light stands Grey card set Clear thread Fake diamonds Poles Snoot made from speed light wrap Technical solutions provider (i.e., my husband) Light Set Up The lighting for this shoot was simple yet difficult. The challenge was to light the diamonds to make the sparkle, which requires hard non-diffused light, without lighting up the backdrop or the model. Then having a second light that is directed on...