Low Key "How I Did It" Shoot

[Benji]

No evolution this time, just how I did it!

Again we selected an image from Glamour magazine as our target. I didn't like the high key clothing with the low key background in the tear sheet, so we decided to do a low key shot.

First the image from Glamour.

Benji

[Benji]

I didn't like the fact that in the tear sheet Sarah is leaning forward, her left hand looks deformed, her right hand isn't posed very well and her shoulders are square to the camera. The Glamour image is a fashion image, and I am shooting a portrait image. Two different animals. For Bree's first image I changed three of the things I didn't like but left her shoulders square to the camera.

Ben

[Benji]

For the next shot, I had Bree bring her left arm up to her face rather than her right one and I had her place her right hand on her left knee. This changed her straight on pose to a 45 degree angled pose without doing anything else! This also hid her cleavage which made Bree happy. I just wish she would have brought a long sleeved dress or blouse or sweater. All that skin attracts attention, but you gotta shoot what they bring along!

Ben

[Benji]

I then had her bring her right arm in a little closer to her body and I had her tip her head to the feminine shoulder. I was up on a step ladder about four feet off the ground for this shot.

[Benji]

The final image shows where the lights were positioned and the meter reading of each light. The step ladder at camera left is partially obstructing the view of the kicker light. Note the use of a block under her right foot. For the images above we placed the block under the left foot. This raises only one knee and slenderizes her legs at the bottom of the image. The background light is hanging off the ceiling with my home made rail system and is above and behind her. The fill light is nearly obstructing our view of it.

[bobbyz]

Benji - Thanks. The last shot gave me some tips on posing.

[willy]

I gotta be honest, I really don't mind the cleavage!

Seriously, thanks for the lesson...it answered something that I was wondering about last night...

[Uncle Frank]

Nice work, Benji, but no fair. It would be hard to take a bad shot of Bree. Surprisingly, my favorite of the group is the very first shot. Since the key light is at camera right, bringing her left arm in front of her body created uncomplimentary shadows, and perspective distortion makes that arm appear bulky. And I hated to see you hide the bare legs and cleavage, as they made the first shot particularly alluring. Jmho.

I always appreciate your tutorials, Benji. Karma to you.

[alive1]

Beautiful model, fantastic 3 dimensional appearance of the images and all and all one great learning experience. I prefer your first image of the three but not to crazy about her square to camera shoulders in that image. Thanks, education is unending isn't it...

[JDArt]

That second shot is beautiful, Benji.

[C Webb]

An excellent bit of work.

C Webb

[joedave]

Benji - Thanks again! I would love to be an apprentice, just shadow and learn.

I retire in 10 years, you have some time?


JD

[Benji]

JD,

I retire in 5!

Ben

[Song4themoon]

I like the second image you posted but in the first I dont like her hands on her face.. they almost look manly in it.

I do like what you did but I dont think it comes over the way it was need for the magazine. Yours is more of a "classic/conventional" posing, which is nice, but the magazine shot seems to bit more of a unusual/sexy/contemporary style. I do like the magazine shot/pose

[rsmall]

Thanks, Benji! Another great tutorial; your instructions are always clearly presented in a very orderly and easy to understand format. I really appreciate your energy and efforts to help us learn.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by rsmall

Thanks, Benji! Another great tutorial; your instructions are always clearly presented in a very orderly and easy to understand format. I really appreciate your energy and efforts to help us learn.

Thanks. I can't speak clearly, I'm not orderly, and if you think women are hard to understand, they pale in comparison to me.

Ben

[alive1]

Could you give us your workflo in photoshop to come up with these fantastic photo's?

[Benji]

Alive,

I posted my workflow on one of my tutorials, which one I'm not sure but if you check them out you will get lots of good information while you search!

ben

[grsphoto]

I read this tutorial and the first thing that came to mind was the old joke about the operation being successful, but the patient died.

I am assuming the client brought in the first image and asked you to recreate it... then step by step you show how you Benjiized the image to create something that was nothing like the original. It is well written... lots of very good information, but not what you started out to do.

The difference in lighting, pose, and feel between the two is so dramatically different.

Glenn

[Benji]

Actually I did exactly what I wanted to do, "Benjiize" it. If I liked the original as is I would have duplicated it but I didn't like it, so I changed it. The original was a fashion image, I wanted a portrait image. They are two different animals.

Benji