Modern Geisha
I love it when a few females get together for shoot. Someone had an idea of "Modern Geisha", we found a model, the MA turned her into life and I set the lighting.
The makeup itself took about three to four hours and it's more of a combo between Geisha and Chinese Opera. The lighting patterns were a mixture of a socked beauty dish, sometimes with reflectors and a large octo on a boom stand.
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I thought my sandbags were in the car, but realized that I didn't have them when I arrived. Luckily, a handbang works in a pinch.
C&C welcomed.
The makeup itself took about three to four hours and it's more of a combo between Geisha and Chinese Opera. The lighting patterns were a mixture of a socked beauty dish, sometimes with reflectors and a large octo on a boom stand.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
9.
I thought my sandbags were in the car, but realized that I didn't have them when I arrived. Luckily, a handbang works in a pinch.
C&C welcomed.
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Comments
These are great and really appeal to me. I have a confession. Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my all time favorite books and movies. I've always found the art of Geisha quite intriguing. You did a great job. Not quite the traditional Geisha but like you said, with a modern twist.
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I'm glad you finally getting to enjoy the studio lights!
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Bring her to me, maybe she'll do better with a total stranger :-)
The variation is due to me since I'm unsure of my voice when dealing with people . I'm a sports shooter and am uncomfortable with actual people; I don't really know what I like and was playing in the processing. In addition, by the end of the shoot, the makeup was cracking since we had a space heater on high since the model wasn't wearing very much and the heat was very drying.
On #7, i pushed for rough skin in the post since I wanted the juxtaposition of the perfect image of a geisha and a broken down person. It was near the end of the shoot and the model was very tired since it was four/five hours since she arrived and ended up leaning on the background with this look on her face.
You have a wonderful model and all the lights! You should really beg! I find that most MAs are really interested in attempting the makeup job even though it's a lot of work because it's something they wnat try at least once in their life time. I seems to be on the MA's bucketlist of things to paint.
Thanks! It's a total team effort! I could have done it without the other ladies!
The eye makeup is more like the idea of geisha instead of the traditional sense and I think it borrows a bunch from the chinese opera, but since we were going with a twist, it worked very well. I think the geisha will have black teeth at times which was interpreted as the black line by the MA.
Without lighting, it looked pretty awesome too
camera phone shot:
The lighting added the dramas and I have a thing for shadows.
Thank you! I think those were my favorites too.
You are stretching your photography...good for you. I like the general over all concept and images. Keep trying new things!!
Sam
The only "nit" I have is that the lines of the background isn't square in many shots. Might be the Mr. Monk in me, but for some reason that bothers me.
Other than that....Really great session.
I wouldn't necessarily say that I enjoying it, but would say that I'm beginning not to hate lighting. Without all of my homework shoots, i'm not terrified anymore, but I still rather be shooting a sports event. It's been a long, long journey for me into lighting....
I would say that I appreciate having an idea and being able to bring it to life, but at the same time, I really have a lot to learn.
I still struggle with idea of "appropriate light" and what I want for the finished frame.
Posing is still very hard for me, but I like to think I'm getting better at it. I kept thinking of dogwood during this shoot and kept instructing the model to slightly open her mouth. For this shoot, i kept watching the posture of the model since this wasn't a traditional geisha, I needed her back/shoulders to be less stiff/upright and more rounded; i wanted her curved and broken, but with a long neck.
As for the not level lines in the background, I blame that on genetics. The background was actually straight, but I'm very short and shot most of the frames either on a step ladder or a unstable chair. I was the one that was crocked!
Looks like a lot of fun.
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These are stunning. Fabulous work by all involved!
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