Now if only I can get a model with eyes as captivating as hers and I’m all set.

Well, what I thought was a “simpler set-up” turned out to require no more less than seven lights. The entire time Daemon Becker was setting up the lights, and it took a while, I felt like shrinking into myself with shame. (Ah, whatever. It’s not every day I get to try out lighting like this!)

Here’s the final product with the two models that my classmates brought along, and Daemon himself (he was the test subject while we were setting up the lights)

We weren’t able to fully  capture it because a) we didn’t have the exact lights that we needed (kino flo) and b) Martin Schoeller shot his photos with a medium format camera. But I think we still did a good job. :)

Check out the rest of the photos shot on the lighting style pegs preferred by my classmates!

It’s fascinating! I can’t wait to learn more and shoot some more in the months and years to come.

Many thanks to Abi Portillo for being awesome and for lending her make up skills, and to Ysab for saying yes to being my model on such a short notice.

Lighting set-up: portrait, low-key, light with snoot

There’s something about low-key lighting that really appeals to my artistic sensibilities. The ability to make something beautiful while having such little light is one that I would love to master, as well as manipulating the little light that is there to create something. This photo was achieved by using specular light via snoot.

On a side note, I don’t usually shoot in RAW just because I don’t really need to. However, I use it whenever  I shoot in the studio. I just love how the color is so easily manipulated.

L-R emulating daylight, tungsten lighting

I wanted to do another kind of lighting, but we didn’t have enough time. Instead, I shot along with the rest of the class with other peoples’ lighting style. It meant that I shot without the flash, but it still yielded interesting results.

I loved everything that this girl was wearing.

After the last person was able to shoot their own preferred lighting style,  we just kind of put in our models again and took a few more shots just to try it out.

I love the color on this, but I don’t know what to do about the footprints. I think it’s because we didn’t really have any time to fix it, so the light on the floor wasn’t enough to drown it out.

I’m really excited for this Saturday. Day 2 is when we take in a specific lighting style that we want to copy, and I’m thinking I want to try out if I can do portraits ala Martin Schoeller. :)