Glamour, Beauty & The Nude 2013 Maui Workshop Pt III - Morning shoot on the beach

Day 3 - Beach shooting with Candice

Another Starbucks run at 5am, then meeting with everyone in the room.  For our morning session we shot around the hotel property and beach, taking advantage of the early morning light.

While waiting for our 5th model Candice to finish makeup, Art and I got the chance to briefly work with Amy again to shoot a few additional images.

As we were getting ready to go down towards the ocean where everyone else was shooting, we noticed a spot just in front of the resort where the sun was just starting to peek between the buildings.  It was some really beautiful light which looked amazing on Amy.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/400 @ f2.8

Down by the water taking advantage of the early morning light shooting out towards the ocean.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/6400 @ f2.8

Amy threw on a blue kimono-style robe for a few final shots.  I've used this robe for a few studio shots in the past.  Never thought about getting it wet before, but that helped to keep the robe strategically positioned over Amy's chest to keep from accidentally exposing her to onlookers. :-)

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/1250 @ f2.8

After our final shots with Amy, Art and I started shooting with Candice. Andrew was there again to help us with a California Sunbounce mini for fill.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/2000 @ f3.2

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/2000 @ f3.2

We finished up shooting by the water and moved up to the barbecue area in front of the hotel to do some headshots against some hibiscus flowers.  

In the shot above, you can see that Art made the smart choice and stood on the stone wall to get the shot he wanted.  Being shorter than Art, I got the bright idea to climb up onto the grilling area in the middle in order to get a higher shooting angle on Candice.

Big. Mistake.

In the middle of leaping from the rock wall to the top of the grilling area I heard a loud ripping sound and suddenly felt a draft. I reached behind me to check and yup, it happened...

Wardrobe Malfunction.

There I was, standing up on top of this grill, mid-morning on one of the most populated beaches on Maui and I had torn the back of my shorts wide open.

Sigh.......  Third day of the workshop and I think I'm 0 for 3 at this point. ;-)

Of course when you have a limited amount of time with an amazing model like Candice in front of your camera, you don't want to waste time worrying about things like ripping your own clothes to shreds.  So we kept on shooting until we nailed the shot.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/400 @ f2.8

Once we got it, I climbed back down and we looked around for other places to shoot, with me trying to hide the gaping hole in the back of my shorts from public view as best I could.  It's a bit difficult to scout locations when you are constantly trying to keep your backside away from people.

Since the sun was pretty high up in the sky by this time and it was getting rather hot, we moved to the indoors to continue shooting.

Thankfully, our makeup artist Stephanie had an emergency sewing kit, which she brought up to the suite right away so I could quickly make repairs to my shorts.

Thank you Stephanie for saving my ass - literally!

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/200 @ f2.8

Started our next set shooting through the curtains, intentionally blowing out the background for a high key look. We bounced a 580EX off the wall for fill.

Being that we were shooting on the top floor of the hotel, the wind was pretty strong and it kept whipping around the kimono and Candice's hair.  Seeing how the wind whipped Candice's hair around her face gave me an idea.  I found a couple of knives in the kitchen and very carefully handed them to Candice.

It's always a good idea to check and make sure your model is in a good mood before handing her edged weapons.

We changed up the position of the fill light by spreading out the Sunbounce fabric on the floor in front of Candice and bouncing the 580EX into that.  This lit Candice from underneath for a slightly edgy look.

Took a bunch of shots, trying different angles and positions.  The most effective shot came when the wind whipped Candice's hair around so that you could just see her eyes. To me it came across as a sexier take on Japanese horror films like Ju-On and Ringu, so in post production that's the direction I went in.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/160 @ f4

Stay tuned for Part IV - Private shoots.