Model shoot - Old Paper Mill - Beauharnois, Quebec

[Manfred M]

I just got back after an all-day photo shoot at an abandoned paper mill in Beauharois, Quebec. The owner told me that the site is about to be sold, so this will likely be my first and only shoot at the site. I bought a new Godox 120cm deep parabolic octabox for this shoot. Given the results shown here, it works very nicely.

The buildings were definitely at the point of falling apart; holes in floors, sponginess and unevenness in the floor boards. The places where we could and could not shoot meant a lot of trade-offs in where the lights could be set up. Location shoots are challenging as one is limited to the amount of equipment that can be brought to site. All the shots were done either with existing light or a single flash to complement the natural light at the location.

1. Shania Lawless





2. Iyore Edegbe





3. Zoey Wainwright

[FootLoose]

I don't know anything about the lighting equipment or what the godox achieves, Manfred, but what stands out for me is that the model's right forearm is a bit bluish compared to her upper arm and the rest of her skin. Due to a shadow, I guess, but I would have thought that the skin tone should be more even in model shoots. It looks to me like the right lower leg might have a bit of blue in it too.

*My comment relates to the first image. It appears you were still uploading the others while I was typing.

[Digital]

Manfred, nice photography.


Bruce

[shreds]

I don't know anything about the lighting equipment or what the godox achieves, Manfred, but what stands out for me is that the model's right forearm is a bit bluish compared to her upper arm and the rest of her skin. Due to a shadow, I guess, but I would have thought that the skin tone should be more even in model shoots. It looks to me like the right lower leg might have a bit of blue in it too.

*My comment relates to the first image. It appears you were still uploading the others while I was typing.

On shot 1:

Given the position of the light, I think the colouration of the arm is to be expected unless a releflector was positioned high up to the left hand side above/slightly in front of the model? That might resolve the leg too?

The deep parabolic softbox works well in other respects and is not likely to blame for the colouration.

Posing wise, I think the shot places a little too much emphaais on the model’s right leg though.

I like shots 2 & 3 better, although the shadows intrude and maybe having the model step forward a pace or two might resolve where the shadows fall?

Otherwise the position of the model in (3) against the graffiti works rather well, with a few good lead in lines to the model from the graffiti.



Shame you wont be able to do a repeat shoot there in future, the building looks interesting.

[Manfred M]

It definitely does not look blue on my screen; if anything there is an overall red component to the colours.

The shot is a location shot, not a studio shot, and is a mix of natural window light plus studio flash, so there is a bit of mixed lighting. I white balanced the shot to 5500K, which is appropriate in this situation; if anything I thought the image might be a touch warm with the wooden floor and ceiling casting a fairly warm light here.

Skin tones are definitely not even in real life, especially at this time of year when tans start playing a greater role in skin colour. Legs are sometimes a touch more red that the upper body.

There is no "rule" suggesting that skin tones need to be even in these types of shoots.


This is a 100% existing light shot; the model definitely did not have enough sun protection on and the effects on her skin are definitely visible. Can this be fixed in PP; yes, but frankly I have no interest in spending hours on retouching the shot unless someone was willing to pay me enough to do so.

[Shadowman]

Nice series, were the tight crops the result of difficult areas surrounding models not worth editing/

[Manfred M]

Nice series, were the tight crops the result of difficult areas surrounding models not worth editing/

No, the tight crops are typically my shooting style and are very much in line with pretty well all of my model shots. I tried a few shots that were more along the lines of an environmental portrait, but did not particularly like the results. That being said, there were three of us shooting the same model, so with lights and light stands just outside of the shot, that also dictated the crops.





That being said, the areas to shoot were definitely limited due to deterioration of the structure. There were definitely places that we were told to avoid

[Shadowman]

Manfred,

Thanks for the follow up in post #7, how was the wardrobe handled, was it one outfit for each model or was there some clothing changes between sets?

[Manfred M]

Manfred,

Thanks for the follow up in post #7, how was the wardrobe handled, was it one outfit for each model or was there some clothing changes between sets?

Each model brought several outfits along and usually made two or three changes throughout the shoot (nominally from 10:00 to 18:00, although we left at 16:00 as we were one of the first groups on site). We would shoot for somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes and then work with another model. In general, we did not have more than one costume per model per shoot. The next set of photographers (usually two or three per model) would benefit from the costume change.

In some cases the model would chose the outfit herself and at other times she would consult with the photographers and change into an outfit that met their requirements.

[FootLoose]

It definitely does not look blue on my screen; if anything there is an overall red component to the colours.

I did the hue test you linked to elsewhere Colour vision (hue) test. It's probably my eyes rather than your image.

[Manfred M]

I did the hue test you linked to elsewhere Colour vision (hue) test. It's probably my eyes rather than your image.

Part of the issue could be the ProPhoto RGB to sRGB conversion too.

When I upsize the image to over 2x and drop colour sampler points on the forearm, the blue component is relatively low, but the screen shot does cause a colour shift versus what I see in the original. I am working the shot on an AdobeRGB compliant screen.

It could be some technical issues, not necessarily your eyes.

[rpcrowe]

Nice job on the images! I am not terribly fond of images of pretty women in grungy abandoned buildings but, I do realize that many people are fond of them...

[Rick50]

Like #3 the pose works for me.