tatoos and piercings

[nyschulte]

Tatoos and piercings being somenthing personal i can not understand why there are so many rants from photographers (at least in europe) when seeing such pictures. For me the tatoos and piercings are made on purpose, so why not show them.

My own likings are different, but i try to show the personality of my model. If i have a project in mind i choose the model accordingly.

Sandra and her sister Marina

1.

2.

3.

4.

Lighting:
1 & 2 strip light 33x175cm from camera left
3 & 4 Octa as main light camera right , strip as accent from camera left behind model

PP
4: LucisArt

Nicolas

 

[Arya Wiese]

I love the 3rd image with the birdy peeking thru her curl of hair...These are way cool. I love your catchlights - was that from the way you had your lights set up or did you add them later?

 

[Charles L Webster]

I don't mind tatoos, extreme piercings bother me a bit, however. Many of my younger friends have tatoos, and I have often wondered how to best capture them. One friend's wife has a fig tree that grows around her entire body, and would be a fascinating challenge.

I especially like the first and third pictures in this series. Nice lighting, and a nice way of hiding/revealing the tatoos.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Tattoo Convention

I've been asked to set up a studio at a tattoo convention this December. One of my office neighbors (and my manicurist) does piercing for a tattoo shop. While only a few of you here have met me, I am a conservative business woman type and one reason I was asked was that the women are comfortable around me (aside from my friend liking my photo style!). I bet it will be fun. I do have a black leather jacket and some jeans....I could fit right in.

Similarly, a friend's daughter is heavily inked and I did their family portrait recently. The problem for my group is the mother is 50+ (like me!) and conservative and the sister is as well - but the tattooed daughter did the makeup for the other two (she's a pro MUA) and did her hair color black to her sister's blonde and red lipstick to for her and plain pink for her sister. Then bare shoulders to show off her ink - including her full sleeve. There was no way to pose them that would have balanced where the eyes went - straight to the huge (covering the entire front shoulder from the neck outward) initial. It's great in the single portrait, but for the grouping, I ended up with some poses where the grouping was shoulders to the outside (with the ink) and even some back to the camera and looking over the shoulder to hide that huge initial E....


Anyway, I do like the art (not for me personally). And I think it makes for great SOLO portraits.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I love the photos in this thread! I'll try to add more tomoorow.

Nicolas, when you write "3 & 4 Octa as main light camera right ", is that "3ft x4ft" or "3 meters x 4 meters" (way massive !!!!!!) or does it describe something else about the Elinchron lights?

Asher

 

[nyschulte]

Hi

For the lighting i might have been too quick.

For No1 and No2 i use only one strip light (33x175cm / 13x69") very close to tthe model (around 50cm/20") which i move around as fits the mood.
This explains the catchlight

For No3 and No 4 i use an Octa (190cm / 75") on camera right as main light and the strip as accent light.

The close the light is to the model, the softer it becomes


Nicolas

 

[Asher Kelman]

So Nicolas,

You use the Elinchron equipment? That 75" Octa, does that have just one light it comes with and what power range and controls does it have. Is the power independant or is it shared with the strip light?

Anyway, your lighting is effective, so you must have a good teacher in Frank!

Asher

 

[nyschulte]

Hi Asher.

The big Octa, like a couple of Elinchrom softboxes is different in the sense that the flash unit is mounted inside the softbox with the flashbulb oriented to the back of the softbox. This eliminates the hotspot and gives an even light. You could use any flash unit from Elinchrom, but you need a unit which is ventilated as otherwise it could overheat. In my case i use the Style 600 RX, a 600Ws unit with a 6 f-stop range adjustable in 1/10th of an f-stop. I started out using an infrared trigger on the camera, but this ment that i had to open the front diffusor to adjust power.
Now, with the skyport remote system from elinchrom, i can adjust power remotely, directly from the remote trigger on the camera. There is even an USB stick so you can control the power from an application running on PC or Mac.

The nice thing with Frank is that he starts from a standard setup and brings you to 'ramming speed' in no time. It is up to you though to adjust to your personal liking. The addition of his DVD's allows you to go through many things again, at your own pace.

Nicolas

 

[Asher Kelman]

Nicolas,

Thanks for the answer. Maybe you could post a picture of your setup. Yes Frank is a great resource. Lighting is such an issue for studio work. The big thing is you get enough of a foundation so one can be competent enough to develop one's own style.

Do you think you have gone out on your own yet as opposed to cloning what he does?

Asher

 

[nyschulte]

Well for one part i an not yet consistent enough. I have noted a couple of 'standard situations' i can rely on for getting nice results. Having these , if time permits i play with new ideas.

I got a bit more confident now with the lighting technique and have hired 2 professional models, to experience the difference. Until now i worked with first timers, so i had to look after the lighting AND the posing. With these models i had to work with the outfits they bring along and eventually correct with accessories i bought for the studio. So no real plan for the session.

There are now a couple of themes i want to realize and i am searching for specific models. This is again a personal trait as i first want to do it on my own, before i seek counsel.

I am not sure to what extend i 'clone' on Frank's style. I estimate that i have the most basic knowledge to make my 'first time models' look god in standard situations. I still have enough creative energy to make every session sufficiently different. I start missing enough sleep though as i have 3 to 4 people during the week, running along my job. I can see as well progress after each session, so things are still on track.

Truth is that i could experiment more distinct lighting setups but as my main focus remains the person in front of me there is so much new things to explore at that level. I do not seek to take pictures of 'clothing stands' i.e. running a session with a model who has the same expression from the first to the last frame.

For experimentations with new setups i have a ?showroom dolly? who is patiently enduring my tests.

Every session is a step towards my own style, but the style is the path and not the destination of the journey. To put it with Frank's words: He has an advance of more than 1000 steps ...

Studio session is one aspect, post processing another. Printing and framing yet others. I start to getting noticed, word of mouth does it's duty. And it starts across borders, german and french people get interested.

I will let things come and see what happens.

Nicolas