iShootModel.com: Private Room with Kellen (清新私房系列)

This is my third attempt on "Private room" theme. This time round, I decided to completely move away from the so-called sexy outfits and poses.

As I mentioned before, "Private room" does not really need to be always on a sexy theme. A "Bright & fresh” looking theme has being planed for this session (It’s also largely due to the fact that the model for the day is my sister-in-law, so sexy theme is just not possible!!)

这是我为 “私房摄影系列” 为主题的第三次尝试. 这一次，我决定彻底地摆脱所谓的性感妖媚的服装和姿态.

正如我之前所说的 “私房摄影” 概念中提到, 私房主题并不真的需要一个以[性感]魅力来强调主题. 这次的摄影任务是以创造一个 “清新私房” 为主要摄影概念的情况下进行的.（其实主要原因是那天的模特 Kellen 是小弟的小姨，要采用比较妖媚的服装和姿态绝对是不可能的！清新私房是唯一的出路!!!）

Basically the thinking behind this photography session is to produce bright (or slightly over-exposure images) images. In order to do so, I try to take advantage of the abundant sunlight from the window and counter it with a flashgun and a simple reflector.

Most of the time I instructed Kellen (our model for the day) to stand closer to the window as the bright sunlight will lit up the room and produced a very natural hair light from the back. Occasionally, I used a 120 cm circle reflector (silver color) to bounce back some sunlight to control the exposure and reduce slightly the over-contrast effect.

这次的摄影任务基本上摄影背后的想法是要产生高明度(或曝光略高)的图像来支撑当天的 "清新"主题. 为了做到这一点，我尝试利用从窗口柜台射进来的自然阳光结合外闪再加上一个简单的反光板为主要光源. 为了紧密配合当天的 "清新"主题, 我也特意过暴背景 (窗口)来创造一个 “光亮和清新” 的全白背景. 这"过暴"像是小弟近期来一贯的风格.

大部分时间我都会要求 Kellen 尽管接近窗口柜台. 窗外璀璨的阳光不单照亮了整个房间，也一并为Kellen后面的头发和身形制造了很自然的发光边缘光. 在此同时我偶尔也会利用一个 120cm的圆的反光板（银色面）反射一些阳光/ 外闪光来控制曝光量和略为减底过度对比 (contrast)的效果.

In order to create a “Bright and Fresh” outlook, I intentionally over-expose the window to achieve a white background. This has been my style so far for this kind of assignment.

I then placed a Canon Speedlite 580 EX II fitted with a 90 cm soft box about 2 meter in front of Kellen and set it about 2.5 meter height, tilt it about 40° to lit up the model from the top. This is a classic simple single light setup and yet it’s the most practical and easier to setup during any on-site photography assignment.

当 Kellen 站在窗口前而面向镜头时, 几乎都是处于全逆光的情况. 简单的反光板几乎不能完全为她进行全身均匀的捕光,这时又是请神灯出场的最佳时机了! 我用了一颗 Canon 580 EX II 外闪再配一个 90cm 的柔光箱放置在 Kellen 前方距离约2米处, 并设置它的高度约2.5米 (倾斜度约40 °). 这是一个典型单灯的简单设置. 请别小看这样的设置, 这的却是在任何现场拍摄任务中最实用, 携带方便又易于安装的设置.

In order to achieve consistent lighting effect, I set the flashgun’s power output to manual (between 1/8 to 1/16 power output) and use the camera’s aperture and shutter speed to control exposure. This allows me to have more control and flexibility instead of returning to the flashgun setting every time when the ambiance lighting conditions changes.

为了实现光源出力一致的照明效果，我把闪光灯的输出功率设置为手动（介于1 / 8至1 / 16功率输出之间），只使用相机的光圈和快门速度来控制我想要的曝光量。这样使我在现场的照明条件变化中对曝光有更多的控制权，而不需要每次返回到闪光灯重新做出设定, 保持高度的灵活性.

Two lenses has been used in this session, my most familiar and trusted Canon EF70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM and the new addition to my gear lineup - Canon EF 24mm f1.4L II USM. This is one of the lenses that “I love and hate” at the same time! Setting the aperture wide open to f1.4 produced the “creamy” effect that I want but often caused the images out of focus due to the shallow depth of field.

Carefully placing the focus point is extremely important to avoid such incident happening. Checking the images with 100% view from the camera’s build-in LCD monitor is therefore vital to ensure images captured stayed in focus.

拍摄当天用了两颗镜头，一颗是我最熟悉和信任的 Canon EF70 - 200mm的f2.8L为ⅡUSM (小白) 和我的镜头阵容中新成员 - 刚装备的 Canon EF 24mm f1.4L II USM镜头. 这镜头真正是让人同时又爱它又恨它！镜头光圈设置敞开到 f1.4光圈时所产生的背景虚化效果是我一直梦昧以求的，但以如此大的光圈下由于浅景深的关系通常会容易造成脱焦的情况…真是又一得必有一失!

用此镜头时必须仔细地把焦点对焦是非常重要而避免此类脱焦的情况发生. 当场马上用相机的 LCD 作 100％事后检查观看图像以保对焦正确是必要的, 避免回家后在电脑看才后悔莫及!

Now, when speaking about aperture I must then relate it to the shutter speed and impact by the flash duration. Canon Speedlite 580 EX II allows me to use beyond 1/300s when set in a high-speed sync mode and some lower range studio strobe may not have such capability. (Flash duration is one of the most important element when consider your investment into studio strobe)

当谈到光圈时，我必须再涉及到快门速度和闪光持续时间(Flash Duration) 的影响。Canon 580 EX II闪光灯高速同步模式允许我以超出 1/300s 快门速度进行拍摄但这不是必然的! 在较低或一些入门的棚闪可能没有这种频闪持续时间的能力! 当考虑棚闪投资时, 闪光持续时间是其中最重要的考虑元素之一!

There are several challenges in using wide-angle lens too for portraiture works. Distortion control is necessary by carefully position the model towards the middle of the scene to avoid overly distorted images. Composition is another challenge when using a wide-angle lens. The key is to keep the background simple and clean. Try to stay away from any unwanted object being captured that may ruin out your effort.