Fun with Cristiana & old Harley-Davidson jacket

[Manfred M]

I haven't been able to do much shooting since the summer for a number of reasons, so I was happy to get into the studio this morning and work with Cristiana again.

I brought an old (1960's vintage) and well worn Harley-Davidson jacket along as the main prop. I've shot her before in more traditional beauty garb but thought that trying something a bit grittier would be interesting.

This image was taken against a black seamless paper with a single large octabox as the key light and no fill lights. I used a couple of rectangular softboxes as rim lights to get the dark clothing to stand out against the background. I also shot her against white, so more posts will be coming.

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[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[pschlute]

Love this Manfred. Black background is my favourite. Really like how your rim lights bring out the texture of the jacket. Super pose.

[escape]

I'v been notcing this style of biker jackets making a comeback. In fact this morning I was in a department store and took a photo of one made from cloth for toddlers. Attire very timely and well suited for model. Great attitude in this well captured photo. Look forward to the otheres.

[Manfred M]

I'v been notcing this style of biker jackets making a comeback. In fact this morning I was in a department store and took a photo of one made from cloth for toddlers. Attire very timely and well suited for model. Great attitude in this well captured photo. Look forward to the otheres.

As a NYC resident, you might find it interesting that the jacket was made in NYC by a company that still exists today; SchottNYC. Their innovation at the time was to have replaced the snaps usually found in leather jackets with a zipper. I'm pretty sure that the modern Harley-Davidson apparel line is not manufactured in the USA any more.

[pschlute]

I'v been notcing this style of biker jackets making a comeback. In fact this morning I was in a department store and took a photo of one made from cloth for toddlers. Attire very timely and well suited for model. Great attitude in this well captured photo. Look forward to the otheres.

I must have have my old biker jacket somewhere. Doubt it would fit me anymore, and even if it did I doubt my back would cope with riding a bike !!!

[Manfred M]

Doubt it would fit me anymore

This is the reason my brother-in-law gave the jacket to my daughter...

[escape]

I was in the department store because I was looking for mink oil for mine. There comming back.

[zen]

For what it's worth, Manfred, I much prefer the black background. More detail shows, and easier on my old eyes sans the large mass of white . . . and BTW, I like the poses better than in the white series, too.

Thank you for sharing, and for teaching us.

Zen

[Antonio Correia]

Like everyone, I do like black backgrounds very much.
I also do like your images and how you master the lights.
I am sure that when we will see the images with white background they will not have so much "impact" as those you have shown us today, Manfred.

Just a curious question: is this with a m43 ? I do know it does marvels.
I hope to be able to do some work of this type all in colour. Later I will talk about it.
Thank you for posting these great shots of yours, Manfred !

[joebranko]

Great shots, very attractive.

[Manfred M]

Just a curious question: is this with a m43 ? I do know it does marvels.
I hope to be able to do some work of this type all in colour. Later I will talk about it.

No, this was done with a full-frame camera (Nikon D810) with the Nikkor f/2.8 70-200mm lens.

I am not a fan of mFT. While it is smaller and lighter than a FF, it is a camera I rarely use any more. A smaller sensor is not the right way to go for the type of photography that I do. While I own one, I only take it when I need something small and light weight. If I could afford a medium format digital camera, I would definitely use one, especially in the studio or location shooting.

[Stagecoach]

This is a good set and a more 'natural' looking model from some previous posts. I'm also preferring the black background to the white.

[Manfred M]

As I have posted a lighting diagram showing how I shot the model on a white background, I thought it would be useful to show what I did in this shot. The key light remains the same, a large octabox that is just out of frame on the camera right side some 1- 2 m / 3 - 6 ft to the camera right of the model.

I used two strip boxes as rim lights to separate the model and her clothes from the dark background. The distance to the background was maintained to let the light drop off give me a very dark background.