A Mannequin, A Friend, and A Model

Dear Reader, (2018-12-22)

Sometime in November, I think it was a post from Dan Jurak, I was reminded of the idea of practising photography.  Practice is about learning the tools and techniques of the craft so that when the opportunity for expression arrives, there is the potential for art.  In recent months I have sat on a chair looking out the front window learning some of the more unfamiliar settings on my optically enabled computer.  This past week my practice was much more ambitious.  On Wednesday, with the helpful assistance of Keith, for which I was ever so grateful, and  a mannequin, Steve, of my own making, I spent 4 hours in a rented studio space going through a self-assigned series of lighting exercises.  On Friday I worked with a model for three hours.  Elora Dawn, who I found through Model Mayhem, was a professional, kind, and patient model.  She was a real pleasure to work with.  I was pleased with my practice.

Depending on the web site referenced, there are 4 classic set-ups, Rembrandt, loop, butterfly, and split.  Broad and short lighting can be applied to the last three.  I tried using them on the first and it didn’t work.  In today’s and upcoming posts I will share with you with some of my practice.

Photo 1 – Establishing Shot

In Rembrandt lighting there is supposed to be a triangle of light under the eye on the shadow side.  In Steve you can see that the triangle is poorly formed.  The results were much better with Elora.

As always, I invite and look forward to your comments.

Cheers, Sean

2 Replies to “A Mannequin, A Friend, and A Model”

  1. As we discussed, Steve is malformed in some ways relevant to casting facial shadows. Elora is much more attractive and suited for facial shadows. As aside, I hope she didn’t borrow that shirt from Steve.

    1. Thank you for visiting and your comments. Elora came with her own shirt, and did not have to take the shirt off Steve’s sparse back.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.