Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
While in Tokyo this past Decemver, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a truly international team - model Irish Kashima from the Philippines, makeup artist Mai Shimura from Japan, and body painter Yilei Liu from Shanghai.
Mai was able to book us some time at the Zero Studio in Edogawabashi. This was my first time in this studio and I tried to plan out the lighting in a way that we could move quickly between setups and make the most of our time there.
Our first setup utilized an existing curtain of shiny material in the studio that was hung next to some windows. Since there was a lot of natural light streaming in from the window, I decided to start with a strobe setup to first overpower the ambient light, then quickly switch to a natural light setting so that we could get two different looks in one setting.
For this first setup, a Nikon SB26 with a CTO gel and a Pocket Wizard Plus II tranceiver was set up behind the curtain. A ProKit Speedlight reflector was used to direct the light onto her hair.
The main light was a Nikon SB26 with a CTO gel and a ProKit Beauty Dish positioned to camera right. We also used a small Vornado fan to add a little lift to the model's hair.
I set the camera to Tungsten white balance and did a series of headshots. Also added a fan to give a little lift to her hair. In addition, Yilei held a silver California Sunbounce Micro Mini to bounce some of the main light back as fill.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4
We started adding some accessories to Irish, and since we needed Yilei to help with other things, he wasn't able to hold the reflector anymore. I setup another SB26 on low power right next to my camera to use as a fill light instead of relying on the reflector.
The reason that I used the CTO gels and tungsten white balance for this first set was so that the incoming window light would [hopefully] turn the background blue. You can kind of see it in the reflective surfaces of the curtain behind Irish in the above headshot. It didn't translate so well tothe back wall however, so I added another SB26 behind Irish and put a blue gel/Stofen Omnibounce on it to color the wall behind her.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
To quickly transition into our natural light look, the Pocket Wizards were turned off so that the strobes would not fire. The camera white balance was set to cloudy white balance/aperture priority mode.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f2.8
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/80 @ f2.8
Moving to our second setup, we hung a red satin bedsheet on a backdrop stand.
You can find satin sheet sets like this at Ross's Dress for Less for around $25. Didn't have a fabric steamer available so to help hide some of the wrinkles in the sheet, we put a fan behind it to add some movement to the fabric.
Mai adjusted Irish's lipstick to match the color of the sheet and we started shooting this look.
For lighting we used just one SB26 in a Westcott Apollo Orb Softbox to camera left.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8
We tried several variations on this, including wrapping one of the bedsheets around Irish as sort of an impromptu evening gown.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8
Canon 5D mkII 70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8
Found a blue muslin backdrop in the studio and wanted to try something different instead of simply hanging it. I laid it out on the floor next to a ledge where I could get on top of for an elevated shot. We didn't have a ladder and the ceilings were pretty low, so I switched out the lens for the 24-105mm f4L IS so that we could get some full length shots.
We used some blue and pink organza fabric that I had brought and Mai wrapped them around our model.
Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4
Tried out one of the Dave Hill B/W presets in Lightroom and I kinda like what it did. Always fun to experiment with new things.
Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4
This is why it's great to work with a team. A lot of times ideas will come up during a shoot that you never even thought of.
Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 800 1/160 @ f4
Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 800 1/160 @ f4
For our last look, Mai and Yilei wanted to experiment with body paint. The idea was to paint a dragon onto Irish's back, then drip some gold paint over it. It was something new and interesting to try, as I had never done a bodypaint shoot yet.
To light this, I wanted to put Irish up against a black backdrop, which we did not have. Since the studio walls were all painted white, I knew we had to really overpower the ambient light with flash in order to make the background as dark as possible.
We setup as far away from the back wall as we possibly could. 2 SB26s in Westcott Apollo Strip Softboxes were setup to light Irish from either side. The flashes on either 1/2 or full power and positioned really close to the model, just out of frame. This made the white wall in the background go down to a very dark grey, which we could then tweak a little darker in post.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
For the last few shots, Mai and Yilei added some gold paint dripping down the dragon. The side-lighting helped bring out the texture of the paint.
Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6
Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f6.3
Wish I could have made it look more sparkly (there were tiny flecks of gold in the paint that they used). Guess I'll need to study up more on how to light bodypainted models...
Made a short video of the shoot with lighting info and diagrams:
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