Note: After a discussion with the model, this post is limited to $10+ Patreon supporters. I don’t intend to make a habit of this.

I love shooting with Kat. She’s got a razor sharp sass and she’s not afraid to hit me with it, and our shoots are half photography and half hilarity. And we always get some really great shots.

But it’s difficult for me to come up with a theme, a reason, a point to the shoot, and I hate doing samey things. This time though, I had an idea: dramatic black and white shadows.

Shadows are hard, in the small white box that is the NFGstudio. Light reflects from everywhere and so any lights I use have to be rigidly controlled to prevent those freewheeling photons from going where I’d prefer they didn’t. This means lots of grids to prevent spill, and placed closer to the model so less power – and less reflected light – is produced.

This makes everything more difficult. Framing is harder when the lights are 50cm from her face, pole moves are nigh impossible when you have to give enough clearance to spin and extend a limb. The grids are super narrow in their output and a shift of ten centimeters is the difference between perfect and pointless, so when she spins, she’s in and out of the hot spot all the time.

But boy, when it works, it works.

This shot was just a test. I wasn’t in position, it was very crooked. But it has a real presence that I love. Accidental art. I’ll take it.


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