2nd photo shoot with Ashley

[remrf]

A young lady I work with has been very generous with her time in the last few months. I had asked her some time ago if she would be willing to pose for me in various locations around Tucson and she agreed.

The first shoot was in downtown Tucson and I used a Leica IIIa exclusively for that shoot. I got three shots from that shoot that I thought were okay but certainly not the best that could be done with the subject. We got together again yesterday for another round and this time we went up to Mt. Lemmon for the location. This time I also brought three different cameras in different formats along with portable strobes, stands and umbrellas.

I brought the Yashica GS, a Mamiya 6x4.5 with 150mm lens and my Omega 4x5" using a Schneider 210mm lens.

I developed the tri-x I shot in the Mamiya last night and they look good. The scan I got from them sucks but I'm having a contact sheet and scan done this week by the lab I use.

I had the B&W C-41 Kodak processed and only one of those I thought was worth keeping. Not the camera's fault. I only got a few shots with it before we set up and the exposures were ambient light only.

The 4x5" will have to wait until I get more fixer. I had enough to fill the tall Nikor tank for two rolls of 120 but not enough to fill the daylight 4x5" tank.


Below are a few examples of the shoot.The first image is from the Yashica GS. The second is from the Mamiya. It bums me out that my scanner can do chromes and prints pretty well but falls way off when scanning negatives. The negative used for the second image in MUCH sharper than the scan would indicate.

Both of the images were shot using ambient light. Although the strobes shots look very good as negatives they scanned even worse that the second image. I will wait for a better scan before I show them.

 

[Stephan]

You should get a reflector, you dont really need strobes in that kind of light but a backlit subject with a reflector on a nice neutral background lways works.

 

[remrf]

You should get a reflector, you dont really need strobes in that kind of light but a backlit subject with a reflector on a nice neutral background lways works.

Good idea. I've not worked with reflectors. One of the reasons I used the umbrella was to provide a catchlight for her eyes. Can this be done effectively with a reflector?

Also the shots using the strobe were not in the same location as the one shown. The light was much more even on her face. There was also less backlight. The flash metered one stop below the ambient which is what I wanted. Just enough to put some sparkle in her eyes without altering the existing light or casting an odd shadow.

 

[Stephan]

yep, and its especially usefull for avoiding ulgy shadows under the eyes really. You dont need an expensive reflector, I used the white packaging of 40x50 ilford FB paper recently and it worked fine. Of course a proper foldable reflector is easier to use, but in any case you'll need someone to hold it. Also be carefull with flare as you'll want to shoot towards the sun.

 

[remrf]

yep, and its especially usefull for avoiding ulgy shadows under the eyes really. You dont need an expensive reflector, I used the white packaging of 40x50 ilford FB paper recently and it worked fine. Of course a proper foldable reflector is easier to use, but in any case you'll need someone to hold it. Also be carefull with flare as you'll want to shoot towards the sun.

I think one of the reasons I had not looked to reflectors so far was the problem of positioning them correctky without an assistant. But it occurs to me that it would not be very had to fasten the reflector to a short pole like those used for the umbrellas. I have two very handy clamps that will attach to the light stand and allow freedom of position of whatever you have clamped on it.

More stuff to do...

 

[Stephan]

I think one of the reasons I had not looked to reflectors so far was the problem of positioning them correctky without an assistant. But it occurs to me that it would not be very had to fasten the reflector to a short pole like those used for the umbrellas. I have two very handy clamps that will attach to the light stand and allow freedom of position of whatever you have clamped on it.

More stuff to do...

yep, those would work fine, no need for an assistant in that case as long as your reflector is rigid enough to be clamped (folding ones arent 😉 ).