I have been asked more times than I can count, if I can share my lighting with photographers wishing to understand what I did for a specific image I have done. So I decided to have one of my shoots which features designers “Paul & Joe” Paris for their Spring/Summer collection captured on video.
Frédérique Renaut used a Fuji F100 digital 6 mega pixel consumer digital camera to capture the scenes and quite frankly, I am quite impressed with the results.
None the less, it will give you an insider view in to one of my shoots where I used a mixed bag of HMI cinema lights, Tungsten and Flash as well as scrims, flags and other stuff to achieve my goal.
Julia Potapova from Silent Models in Paris was a pleasure to work with as was Marielle Loubet the Make-Up artist and Stylist Parissima Saleh. In fact although a very, very long day, it was a real pleasure working with the whole team.
I was also very pleased with the clothing on offer from “Paul & Joe” Paris. They worked perfectly for the theme, except for one change that didn’t work out. Was not as fluid as I would have liked and the color I chose for the capture didn’t work with the rest, so we decided to use another clothing change that would be more in line with the rest of the theme.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this almost as much as I did.
The Team
Photography: Benjamin Kanarek,
Model: Julia Potapova, Silent Models Paris
Stylist: Parissima Saleh
Make-Up: Marielle Loubet , Calliste Agency Paris
Hair: Armand Fauquet, Artlist Agency Paris
Fashion: Paul & Joe Paris
Editor in Chief: Charles Consigny
Digital Retouch: Freddy Baby, Paris
Video: Frédérique Renaut
Studio: La Platform, Paris
Cinema Lighting: RVZ, Paris
Music: Phoenix© one of my favorite Pop/Rock groups presently.
And here are the final images
I was asked for a more specific technical lighting explanation, here is the short version:
I shot most of the production at 1/4 to 1/15th of a second depending on the rendering desired.I used a mix of 2 X 2.5 Kilo HMI flicker-less cinema lights for the backdrop which I lit at around f11.0. The open flash heads were also putting out f11.0 giving a total of between f13.0 and f16.0 for the backdrop. For the Model Julia, I used a single head with a standard 7 inch diameter silver bowl and medium honeycomb grid and blocked the light just below her waste and used a flag to do so. The bottom half of her body was lit with a Mandarin 2 kilo tungsten light, using a full blue correction filter.
I wanted my background 2 stops hotter than the foreground, to burn some of the detail of the Muslin fabric in movement as well as to outline the body of the model, giving a slight aura effect. I also used Plexiglas floor panels to add dimension to the image. The main light was between f8.0 and f11.0 and on several shots, had a 1/2 blue gel correction filter attached. I used a Pentax DA 40mm Ltd pancake lens for most of the day and the Pentax DA 31mm Ltd for another shot and the Pentax DA*16-50 for another. I used the Pentax K20D for the shoot.
There you have it.
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Thanks a lot for this look “behind the scenes”.
Good music, but it would have been *far* more interesting to hear your directions and other sounds.
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Thanks so much for this behind the scenes video. It was wonderful watching how you work to create the beautiful images that you do.
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Thanks Steve
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As is all your work, just stunning Ben. Good show!
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Thank you Tiffany. Glad that you were able to benefit by it
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You’re probably my favourite person in the world right now. You have no idea how much this post and the video in it has helped me! Studio lighting is something I have SO much trouble with. Thank you so much x
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No, I haven’t had a studio since leaving Toronto years ago.
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Benjamin, such a great video! Thank you so much for sharing. I hope for more videos, as one can learn so much in only few minutes, more then in years and can also be inspired, too. I like your work and I hope to see more to come. If you ever come to Vienna or Austria for a job, you can have my support in logistic, photo-equipment and I´ll be honoured to assist you if needed. Once again – thanks for sharing!!!!!!!
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Question…
Do you have a space that is your studio or are you mobile, changing space from shoot to shoot?
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Interesting video. It’s great to have a professional share his technique. It is very rare indeed. Then again, I think that if all you’ve got is technique, then you are far away from being an artist.
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Benjamin,
thanks for sharing your know how!
This creative shoot got me thinking … and inspired me to try new things. Thank you for that.
Leeuwtje
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Thanks so much for this behind the scenes video, it explains so much. Love seeing the creative genius behind these sort of shots.
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Great production and style!!!!! Thanks for sharing! The images are some of the strongest I have ever seen.
Extra credit for the King Crimson tribute.
Love & Bass
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Benjamin,
Thanks for that behind the scenes, simply wonderful to watch it unfold, and the resulting images inspiring!
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