January Image - Figure Seated

How I did it - This is a recent studio image. The model created her own pose, which is illuminated by one frontal studio strobe and two rear lights. You can tell by the way the light strikes the model. The lights all pass through light boxes which softens the light. The original image was in color. In addition to convert to a black and white I created a skin texture which does not show too well in this size. I like the pose and the hair falling over her face, but not everyone would like that.

My very best to all for the new year. My leg has considerably improved. I get around pretty well now. Thanks to all for your good wishes.

COMMENTS:
 

Bill Buchanan	Excellent lighting on your figure study. The back light on the models hair is critical when shooting against a bleck background. It's also helpful when you have a model who knows how to pose. That in itself can be difficult. My only negative thought would be a change in lighting to acentuate the curves and form of the body.
Joe Hearst	Love the pose and the lighting, and B&W is perfect. But on my monitor the skin texture looks like grain.
Guy Davies	I have to admire your studio work, Jerry. You have created an excellent study here. The lighting brings out the shape of the model’s body without creating any significant areas of deep shadow or burnt out highlights. There are three small areas where highlight detail seems to have disappeared (top of girl’s right arm, top of her left elbow, and just below her right shoulder), but we must be aware of the limitations of compressed jpeg images and I would guess that the original image does not suffer from these minor imperfections. The pose is good and looks natural, and the background works perfectly to show her without distractions. Hair light is just enough to separate it from the background. I’m happy with the hair falling over the face, as that to seems very natural. I must say, however, that the skin texture you created has been badly treated by the jpeg compression, and shows on my monitor as an un-natural mottled effect. Hope your leg continues to improve.
Karen Kotner	Jerry as usual this image has beautiful composition, light and exposure. I particularly like the way the model's head is posed and the way the hair falls across her face.
Erik Rosengren	Glad you are feeling better Jerry. I think this image shows well in B&W. I too love her pose and strand of hair in her face and your lighting accentuates and flatters the models figure. That said, the skin texture appears as circles on my monitor.
Ann Schonlau	The image is well done from the technical points of lighting, pose, and capture. The one thing that bothers me is the noise in the image.

Member Bio

Jerry Appel - Biography I have been involved with photography for more years (45) than I care to contemplate, over the past several years moving actively into digital imaging. My work has had some pretty decent exposure -- appearing in solo and group exhibits within the United States and abroad, in travel advertisements, in various photographic yearbooks and in four books of which I have been either author or co-author. The most recent is "Far Away Faces -- A Guide to Better Travel Portraits" (1998). I have been awarded a number of medals in the Austrian Super Circuit Competitions over the past few years, two during year 2001. At this time, my images are carried by four galleries in the New York area. All are invited to visit my website to see other examples of what I do. My email is gappel6 at optonline.net