Black mask

I like masks and outdoors photography.

I took these photos last year, in a private area near Great Falls. The lighting and the environment were perfect, and the model helped a lot during the session, recommending poses and following my recommendations. Continue reading “Black mask”

Dark veil – experiments with high contrast and motion

During the photo shoot of  the Dark Queen mask, I decided to play with a dark veil given the strong wind of that day.

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I actually wanted to experiment with wind and capture motion in other photo shoots, but unfortunately weather didn’t help that much, but the scenery, the weather and the concept was shooting this time were perfect. Continue reading “Dark veil – experiments with high contrast and motion”

Dark Queen II

We had a blizzard some days ago and everything was covered by snow, which made an ideal landscape for a new photo shoot with the Dark Queen mask.

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However, shooting in snow is not that easy, the natural light is a bit hard to manage because it bounces everywhere. In addition to that, it’s hard to set a good exposure that captures texture in both the snow and the subject given the high contrast – you end having texture in the snow with a dark subject, or a good exposition in the subject with a white non-textured background.

Continue reading “Dark Queen II”

Indigenous Deity

When I was building the Dark Queen mask, I made an ornament with some leftover pieces, designed to be worn in the forehead. Initially, I intended to utilize this ornament in a dark concept, but when the model wore it, it looked more like an avant garde version of an indigenous plume.

Avant Garde Indian Deity

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Dark Queen – Mask

I wanted to experiment with new props in my photo shoots and decided to create a mask, out of a cardboard. The process was empiric and improvised. It was like practicing origami in the beginning, creating volumes by cutting and folding the cardboard, and then giving shape to the mask by incorporating the leftover pieces that I was cutting out.

This is how the foundation looked like when I got the shape done.

Process to create a mask - foundation

Then, I started the second part of the process, which consisted of bathing or dipping little pieces of paper in glue mixed with water, and then pasting them in the foundation.

This process gave the mask a hard finish and texture.

Process to create a mask - details

Finally, I used gold acrylics to paint the whole mask.

I realized that I needed a special dress for that mask, so I went to a fabrics store and bought 3 yards of velvet-like fabric to simulate a cloak, which made a perfect match.

The mask didn’t work quite well for the model who wore it, though, it didn’t fit her well and she had trouble to see behind it, in great part because the holes for the eyes have the measurement of my face (I build that!), so I’ll keep that in mind for the next mask I design.

Dark queen

I took these photos at around noon. The sun light was coming from the top and it created high contrast in those areas where it was hitting directly, and also projected harsh shadows of leaves and branches over the model.

Dark queen

I decided to explore different angles and move around while the model stayed at the same spot.

When you work with natural light, the only way to change the lighting is by keep moving and take photos from different points.

Dark queen

In order to give a feeling of being deep into the woods, I intentionally included some out-of-focus branches and leaves in front of the model.

Dark queen

I’m very pleased with the outcome of this photo shoot. The model did a great job, she was very patient and stayed cool wearing that mask, and was always open to explore different poses and angles during all the session.

Dark queen

This photo shoot was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 70-200 mm lens.

Silueta y movimiento

Hace algunos años hice las siguentes fotos como ejercicio de iluminación y movimiento. Para ello, ubiqué una lámpara halógena de 500 vatios detrás de la modelo y otra de frente con difusor, o tela delgada en frente de la luz para atenuar la intensidad y hacerla más suave.

experimentacion-fotografia-movimiento
Continue reading “Silueta y movimiento”

Fotografías aéreas

Este es otro ejercicio de fotografía desde un avión. Como explicaba en otro artículo, la ventana del avión distorsiona muchísimo las imágenes, e introducen además puntos negros y brillos que afectan la calidad de la imagen.

Sin embargo, se pueden lograr en general fotos muy interesantes, como las que comparto a continuación.

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fotos-artisticas-cielo-lucuella

cielo-valle-del-cauca

Para obtener el máximo detalle en estas fotos, cerré completamente el diafragma del lente, escogiendo el máximo número f (en este caso el f22).

fotografia-aerea-nubes-cielo

Usé Adobe Photoshop Lightroom para remover las imperfecciones de la ventana del avión, aunque es probable que algunos puntos negros y reflejos todavía estén presentes en estas fotos. También ajusté el contaste con esta herramienta.

fotos-cielo-nubes-lucuella

El retoque lo terminé en Adobe Photoshop, agregando dos filtros: Enfoque Inteligente y Ruido.

fotos-aereas-nubes

Ejercicios de iluminación artificial

Revisando mis archivos de fotografías encontré este estudio experimental con luz artificial, en el que usé una lámpara halógena de 400W y una luz direccional de 50W. Una amiga, Luisa Agudelo, me sirvió de modelo, y me colaboró muchísimo con el vestuario y los props.

La gran ventaja de la iluminación artificial sobre la luz natural es que el fotógrafo tiene el control sobre la configuración de las luces, pero la gran desventaja es que se pueden cometer muchos errores si no se tiene experiencia.

En las primeras fotos de este estudio usé una iluminación muy clásica, usando la luz principal (400W) frontal en un ángulo casi de 45 grados desde arriba y la luz direccional desde atrás como backlight. También utilicé una tela negra como fondo.

fotos-modelos-calenas-lucuella

Poco a poco comencé a variar la iluminación para dar resultados más dramáticos, como usando la luz principal mucho más frontal, lateral o desde bien arriba para generar más contrastes.

como-usar-flash-en-fotografia-lucuella

Continue reading “Ejercicios de iluminación artificial”