Randi Rouge

[Manfred M]

As a member of the Photographic Society of America's Digital Dialogue Group 61 (the only portraiture group there), I have to submit a portrait once a month for display on the site, so this is the one I just finished processing.

I revisited a shot I took of local model, dance instructor and burlesque dancer, Randi Rouge earlier this year. I've been lucky enough to shoot with her four times over the past year and have another shoot with her in about 10 days. Her burlesque costumes are absolutely amazing and she is great to work / collaborate with.

In the RA Photo Club studio. I tried to recreate the feeling of what I imagine the 1930s era burlesque theatres might have been like; dark, harshly lit and full of cigarette smoke. I shot Randi against a 3.65m / 12 ft black seamless paper background and used my small smoke machine to add smoke to the shot.

The nice thing about shooting in the studio is that the image needs very little in the way of PP work.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, was this the composition you submitted to the group or did you crop at all?

[Manfred M]

This is exactly what I submitted, only a bit larger. The PSA allows a maximum height of 768 pixels.

[zen]

A really great shot, Manfred, sharp, nice contrast, great costume, etc. But I wonder about the smoke effect.

The 30's were before my time, but I made it to a few such rooms and scenes in the 40's, and my recollections of such smoky rooms is that the smoke was floor to ceiling, front to back, and in every corner. There were no clear areas in the rooms. And the "players," both on stage and in audience, were surrounded by the smoke- not only behind. As people moved around the room, swirls of smoke billowed after them- sort of like in a foggy landscape shot. The result was sort of an overall softening effect . . .

Can't help but wonder how this lovely lady would look in that kind of atmosphere. But thanks for sharing her with us nevertheless.

Zen

[Manfred M]

I won't ask how old you are, but having visited these places in the 1940s suggests you have a few years on me...

I am old enough to remember the days where going out would have me smelling like smoke, but nothing at the level that you have described. I can't say I ever remember seeing people with smoke wafting behind them as they walked along. I'm not even sure how I would light that. Smoke is highly reflective and in any work I have done with smoke, I have back-lit it, as I have done here to make the model stand out.

That being said, I did this shoot without an assistant, so I had to push some smoke into the scene (being careful not to aim the nozzle of the smoke machine at the model as it is hot and can burn the subject if they are too close) and then run back, grab the camera and take the shot before the smoke dissipated too much. I was surprised how quickly the smoke disappeared; the studio is large and better ventilated than I expected.

[Tom Barry]

Really well seen and done.

[billtils]

Nice image, nice "attitude" from Randi.

Not so sure about the smoke though. Public places have been mercifully smoke-free for so long that memories of that earlier time are, shall we say, as fuzzy as the clouds of smoke in them. However, my recollection is that smoke rises, which makes the setting here unrealistic. However, the realistic version probably would not have worked as a portrait since the haze would have been around her head.