I'm Back and I Brought Cindy with Me

Bilsen

I know I said a few weeks but I want to show (1) what advice I've incoprporated as a regual part of my shoots and (2) Cindy in her incredible bikini. I'll be posting "Advice Incorporated" posts over the next week or so.

ADVICE TAKEN: When I can, I've moved my shoots as close to the Golden Hour as I can get the model to do.

ADVICE TAKEN: Don't always go for "sexy", encourage the model to show her personality.

Here are a few from a sunset shoot with Cindy in the Hudson River.

I know I have a problem with the WB. This was something new for me and I was experimenting with gels on the off camera flash. Other than that, C&C away OR just enjoy looking at all that GORGEOUS.

Click the first image for her swimsuit gallery with more to be added. There's also a few in the gallery that I wasn't sure about posting here (NO there's no nudity guys - Sorry :wink)



2.


3.


4.


5.

Bryce Wilson

Two is a winner on so many different levels.

Bryce Wilson

And...although I'm not wild about the background, the way she is posed in number four makes her body look ummm, well, perfect to me

Bilsen

As always, thanks Bryce.

I took a lot of the suggestions here (I'll show more tomorrow) but always blurred BKGs wasn't one of them. Sometimes I agree (you'll see) but sometimes, not so much. Too me, the river and the mountains give it depth and the far shore is part of the image.

We do agree that Cindy is just about perfect. She's become a muse for me in that we shoot often enough that I have to come up with new things to try. I just KNOW you feel terrible for me because of that.

Bryce Wilson

John, it's not the fact that the background isn't "blurred" that bothers me in number four. It's the fact that it is too bright to me. The brightness of the water distracts me from those perfect curves she is exhibiting. I shouldn't have to fight to keep my eyes on that perfect waist and hip line but the brightness of the water in comparison to the "object of desire" is causing that to happen. At least for me.

Again, take it for what it's worth. My eye certainly ain't perfect, I just say what I see.

Yeah John, I feel really bad for you. It's tough, but someone has to do it.

Bilsen

Gottcha Bryce. Sorry, I'm so used to getting jumped for my backgrounds I just assumed that was the problem. Mea Culpa.

I don't honestly disagree with you but I don't know how I would have used the golden hour light without it being reflected that way. It's why I'm still the grossest of amateurs cause the pros would know what to do I suppose.

zoomer

I like the pose in 4 a lot. Very natural and sexy. Don't love the background....you knew that .
That is a very good shot.

Bilsen

Thanks Zoomer.

I'm starting to wonder if a bkg did something to you as a child.

divamum

Two is MONEY for light and comp Love the sun used as a rimlight.

For me, the reason the bg's distact in the others is because of the "stripe" effect behind her resulting in three distinct bands: colour/light/dark. I agree that the depth of the river and shore is great but, as it is, it does take away from your lovely subject. This isn't my kind of shooting, but I'm guessing that options were either

- re-locate, as you did in #2 - the solid water behind her forms a beautiful backdrop
- pose her and/or raise/lower your own angle so that the bg was used differently
- underexpose the ambient a bit more to darken the entire bg, and then possible even up the light variations behind even more in post. That said, that would give you a very different effect from the flash, which I suspect wasn't quite what you were aiming for.

I too am interested to hear what others would suggest for that particular situation.

Yaflyyadie

- underexpose the ambient a bit more to darken the entire bg, and then possible even up the light variations behind even more in post. That said, that would give you a very different effect from the flash, which I suspect wasn't quite what you were aiming for.

What divamum said.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now for me: 2 and 4 are the winners, no matter what.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. She looks very relaxed and natural.

dogwood

John, these are great. Water in the background, perfect lighting, beautiful model. Very nice work. You've come an amazing distance in terms of quality this summer. #2 absolutely belongs in your portfolio. Very nice work.

Demian

Awesome shots! I'll jump on the bandwagon and agree - #2 is the best of the lot.

I don't honestly disagree with you but I don't know how I would have used the golden hour light without it being reflected that way.

Have you tried using a polarizer filter? On a shot like #4, I think it would be helpful in controlling the reflections (and give the plants a more natural green).


Also, it might just be me (on a crappy monitor, as usual), but did you bump up the saturation a bit? On most of the shots, her bikini looks REALLY blue, which I found a little distracting. Anyone else seeing it, or am I crazy?

Edit: Forgot to mention though, that it looks good in #2, probably due to the blue water.

0scar99

Polarizing filters are great for knocking back the reflections off water.
I'm going to go a little against the herd in that my favorite is number 1. I think you can see a cheeky personality lit large across that face and I find that very attractive. Nice work..

Tim Kamppinen

These are a great start but you could improve your results exponentially with some very simple changes to the lighting. Except for #1, they all look like on-camera flash to me, which produces flat, relatively uninteresting light. Moving the light off camera will produce shadows and highlights which reveal shape, and shape is definitely what you want to be revealing with a subject like this, right? I also agree about knocking the ambient exposure down more. Either shoot natural light and let the background blow out completely, or use flash and subdue it so it's not distracting. I will say that background looks great in #2. Sure you could have gone darker with it but that's personal preference. The others though I find to be distractingly bright.

divamum

I also wanted to add (was typing in megahaste before):

PS. She looks very relaxed and natural.

and

You've come an amazing distance in terms of quality this summer.

on both counts!

0scar99

Tim Kamppinen wrote: »

These are a great start but you could improve your results exponentially with some very simple changes to the lighting. Except for #1, they all look like on-camera flash to me, which produces flat, relatively uninteresting light.

I have to say PAH!!!! to this... If on camera flash produced results like this then my backpack would be considerably lighter!!
Look at the final shot where the shadows are falling.. the light is off to camera right I would say. The rest of the images, the light seems too soft to be on-camera..

I may be wrong of course.. sure wouldn't be the first time..

Bilsen

BEEEEEP wrong answer (mostly)

There's no on board flash in any of this set. When there was a flash it was off camera (to either side) through a shoot thru umbrella. It's possible you're seeing the ones with the OCF at 45 degress to her to camera left.

As for the rest, thank you all.
There will be more from this shoot this week with more of the advice I've taken.

Tim Kamppinen

JohnGalt_ny wrote: »

BEEEEEP wrong answer (mostly)

There's no on board flash in any of this set. When there was a flash it was off camera (to either side) through a shoot thru umbrella. It's possible you're seeing the ones with the OCF at 45 degress to her to camera left.

If that's the case then you need to get it farther off camera and closer to the subject. These look extremely close to the results you get from a speedlight on camera when shooting vertically (hard shadow off to one side). The umbrella isn't doing anything here because you have the light too far away for it to be effective. Remember, relative size is what matters. A big umbrella far away is still a small light source. And again, the light is very flat, so it's clearly not very far off axis, even if it is literally off camera.

Bilsen

OK Tim. We'll play with that next time. Thanks.