I got up quite early considering I went to bed at 1:30am, I tried to get back to sleep but with obsessing about if everything was ready for the shoot and if things would work out OK, I just couldn’t get back to sleep. I got up and messed with testing some exposures of myself in order to have the main lighting right before Amanda and crew arrived. I had moved my two lights to be the key (to the left of the camera and forward) and the fill (on camera right and behind), I then placed my brother’s two strobes that he graciously allowed me to use on the left and right of the model pointed toward the background. I think I metered the key at f/8 and the fill at f/5.6 or 1:2 the background lights read f/16 to blow out the white background.
I was mostly ready by about noon and wanted to eat but was almost to nerved up to do so. I poured myself a rum and Pepsi (OK, I live in Atlanta but HATE Coke), actually a Pepsi One, (you got to get the help where you can) in order to calm down a bit. Amanda calls about 1ish and says they are running a bit late so it could be another 1.5 to 2 hours before they get there. Considering we were shooting for 2:00pm and I still had things to do I was happy for the delay. They arrived around 2:30ish and we basically jumped right in after the introductions. I was worried that with everyone (her husband Kris and their s7yo Corbin) there including Brian there would be problems but no everything worked out great.
I felt I started out slow and could have felt a bit more in control but I was glad that after a bit Amanda had some ideas she asked about and things started to flow better. I think I improved as far as directing her poses but I did leave more up to her than I expect I should have. In reality I’m better at the technology of the art than the true art part. Or maybe it is just that I’m more secure in the technology part. I turned off the Auto Focus and just focused manually, not sure if that was good or bad but I feel that most of the photos were in focus, I exclusively focused on her eyes. At times I was slow to focus and that might have made her feel like saying, “OK, take the picture please!!” so maybe next time I should try the AF for a bit and see how things work out. Use the technology to your advantage.
Amanda was tickled about her makeup, especially her eyes and as you can see why here —> http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47602253/
She looked fantastic if I haven’t already said that.
I learned a few things:
1). set the white balance to flash NOT auto!
2). I need to get better at suggesting poses, sometimes I don’t due to being modest( ie. how about a shot with your butt sticking out more?).
3). maybe use auto focus so model doesn’t have to wait so long for shot.
4). don’t try to bracket manually.
Things I want to do next with a shoot like this:
1). action shots, hair moving etc. – note need to get a large free standing fan.
2). more implied nudity, way better than real nudity in my book.
3). Take more pictures.