Week 2 – Mean and Furry

Info

Winter is at it’s best here, in Poland. Freezing cold and the snow is everywhere. My first idea was to create some sort of a polar-like mood. Blue sky, snowy field, dark glasses and a big, warm hood.

However when I started thinking about going out with all equipment just to find out that the sky is dark gray rather than blue, I took a shortcut and stayed home. Then another problem emerged, I had no coat with a hood that would suit the scene. It was getting late and I had to take a pic…

At the end I have found my grandma’s old furry coat and changed the idea for a flashy, mean portrait. I guess it turned out pretty well.

Tech

50mm, 1/500s, f9

For this shot I used two small strobes, both at their widest settings and 1/4th power. Main light went through umbrella around 50cm over the camera. Second light came from back left to create the highlight and the flare.

I used the same set-up to take photos of confetti that I added later in post-production.

Today I have also prepared a little walk-through of my post-processing. The first picture is directly from the camera with no adjustments. I have added a few curves layers and a saturation layer to achieve more contrasty look. Retouching is minor, just a few blemishes and changed the logo on sunglasses.

Trivia:

• I made confetti out of present-packing band. It took me around 30min but after the first shot everything was on the ground. When I tried to pick them, it turned out to be so electrostatic it’s almost impossible. After another 30mins of gathering it I decided to go for post-processing way and shoot confetti alone.
• The fake fur-coat belongs to my grandma, however, she doesn’t wear these anymore.
• I took overall 49 photos. 15 of me in the coat, 6 of confetti (3 completely black as it fall before i took a pic). The rest were preparing shots as I wanted to control flare as much as possible.
• I took the photo in my room.
• Post-processing took around one hour. Uploading took around 2 hours – my net went down…
• Sunglasses cost 5$, I bought them just before the session.