InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Just got up from a fun night involving a very long studio session with some great friends. These sessions tend to devolve as the evening goes on with drinks, cutting up, and even models dancing and many times the photos suffer or we all end up putting the camera's away early and just shooting the breeze. Last night was fairly productive and I got seven sets with my muse. Mostly I was back in cheesecake mode. We plan on going back to the studio soon, rolling out some paper, and trying for something artsy soon but this session had been planned for a while and outfits had already been picked out...etc.etc.etc.

One thing we wanted to shoot was an totally secular Easter Bunny themed set. And so we did.

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Runninglate Loc: Saint Cloud, Florida

As always great shots. I think I would have put a colored background in. This would not let your model blend in with the background. Or else have a pastel outfit instead of a what one. But what do I know? You always take great pictures.

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Over the 20+ years I have been shooting figure studies of my partner I have become less and less responsible for thematic decisions. Often these decisions hinge on what's in the big rolling suitcase that accompanies us and I seldom have any say in what ends up in there. I can honestly say that I'm normally pleased with the choices she and her friend come up with for these sets. In this case, I really love the subtle skin tones and I think they are accentuated by the white background and white outfit. It's early March, everyone is pale.

I might add that it's also very productive working with a helper/director who is thinking about the next set while I'm shooting the current set. Her friend looks at newly acquired clothes, scopes out the studio for props, etc. We probably would have accomplished less than half what we did last night without her girlfriend's help. So when I wrap up a set and they tell me what we're doing next I just go with the flow. If I don't like the setup but can't think of a way to easily improve it, I just try to get the best results possible and consider it practice.

In this studio, this high-key corner is alway set up so you don't have to pull out the white paper if you want to shoot something in that style. The studio owner likes to shoot on gray, and gray paper is normally hung and often pulled out and taped. I would prefer to shoot on a seamless white background for high key but I've shot several great sets in this corner with all colors of outfits.

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Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

I like the white, it emphasizes her skin nicely. She needs to have a few drinks more often <grin> - so natural and playful with tongue stuck out, wink, etc. And gives a whole new meaning to "she had beautiful pink nipples".

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

Love #1 - the white background makes her pretty hair stand out. She is a very beautiful woman.

scsdesphotography Loc: Southeastern Michigan

ISO I have two compliments. The first is for your lighting work. I really admire how you are able to attain such an even exposure and consistent skin tones in the images of your girl and top model. You minimize shadow and shadowing without losing visual impact. What was your lighting set up for these shots?

The second compliment is for your top model and muse. Your photography and the posing of her curvy body produce no apology images which I find refreshing and fun to look at. The fact that she is the creative director in your shoots makes her posing even more interesting. Whatever level of nudity is displayed in your images, her body position and the frequent use of props is what catches the viewers attention. It creates a sense of casual eroticism, frequently in a humorous or at least unexpected way.

I have become a fan of your work and look forward to your posts

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Thank you.

First, the lighting is a semi-permanent fixture of the high-key corner in the studio. There are normally three lights in total. Two light fixtures, each close the wall about 8 feet from the corner and a third fixture that can be moved about but normally splits the difference and directly faces the model about 12 feet away from the corner. The fixtures are about 5 feet tall so the bottom of the lamps are about a foot off the floor, right at the end of the tripod portion of the legs.

In this instance, that third fixture was replaced by one of my LED lights which is somewhat tunable for color temperature. There was enough fill from my lamp to make a flash unnecessary. The other benefit of having an inordinate amount of light is that pupils are kept small. For a blue-eyed model like my wife, this is a benefit. The existing fixtures are home-made. Each contains two, 4-foot, T8 fluorescent fixtures mounted vertically on an old light stand. The fluorescent bulbs have been replaced with high CR index LED bulbs. Each lamp is a 2-bulb unit so there are 4 bulbs per fixture.

The walls and ceiling are painted flat white. I'm pretty sure it is a flat base with no tinting whatsoever. The paint is refreshed on a pretty regular schedule since it is easily marked. The floor is covered in a white shag carpet. It hides some detail of shoes but is relatively easy to clean and is a brilliant white.

As to your second compliment, when you have one principle model, variety is important to both model and photographer. I know of several photographers that achieve variety in their work by shooting different models. I have one Flickr friend who shoots dozens of models a year with the same studio set-up and a few prop chairs. More variety is added by what the models bring to wear and the odd assortment of small holdable props. His work is good, and I'm sure he enjoys the parade of talent through his studio in Spain, but if you never move your camera or change your settings what fun is that. We achieve variety by changing outfits, props, and locations. We also shoot with a variety of different people. My wife is not overly hung up on her extra-curvy physique. Many women you see on a day to day basis are just as curvy and it's fun to prove to the world that older, larger woman can be sexy.

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Your muse is beautiful.
It's kind of funny, but I started thinking a couple weeks ago that I would really like to see what would happen if you two got serious did something...well, like this.

Shady

These might be some of the best I’ve seen of this lovely lady

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Thank you?

Just kidding. I'm always trying to get better and I appreciate that you like this set. I also recognize that some shots resonate with different people for different reasons. Many of the images I posted before this were technically more difficult. I hand hold just about everything and when you have a lot of light to work with, crisp shots are much easier. I actually took quite a bit of clarity out of these images because they were too crisp.

My model is a constant, she's always going to look her best. When the photos don't do her justice, it's my fault. BTW, my muse would be the first to tell you that many of you are already living with splendid models who would appreciate a photo session or two.

olBadger

Something about #1 just doesn't click for me. #2 is my favorite pose of the set, and #3 is my favorite expression.

The Easter Bunny is an entirely secular piece of iconography, unless you want to hold its having the word "Easter" in its name against it. ;-)

olBadger

THIS shot is spectacular, the color/light(s) are stunning and compliment her beauty and sensuality perfectly!

Would LOVE to see the rest of the shots in the set (or sets) taken when this one was.

olBadger

Well said!

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Great set, love the poses. It is a blessing to have a beautiful model that so obviously loves to be in front of the camera.

jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

The white background, the porcelain skin, the even light. Good work!