A cheeky lady with an umbrella

Hey,

I wanted to do a shoot with a more playful, fun nature rather then the serious , artistic shoots which seem to dominate underwater/model photography (at least from the quick bit of googling i've done lately.)

So I threw my office mate (Fran - a zoologist) into the pool to see what we could come up with.

The underwater umbrella

No 1

Worth a look :-)

Large on black

no 2

The "cheeky" shots

I wanted to get stronger, more vivid lighting but still maintain a black background. The pool's walls kept reflecting the light from the strobes so I thew a black sheet over the wall and used it as a backdrop. This gave me more control over the lighting but still allowed a black backdrop.

no 3

no 4

no 5

no 6

Selective lighting:

I got a friend to stand over the pool and point a small torch onto the model to get some cool selective lighting. I had to use a high iso 400 and slow shutter speeds (1/10.) I was disappointed with how the D80 handles noise.

no 7

no 8

Single strobe above the water for this one

no 9

This was a high iso/slow shutter speed shot that turned out pretty funky. Its potentially a disaster shot but i kind of like it

no 10

More cheekiness

no 11

This one below was the models favourite

no 12

and a 'classic' shot

no 13

and a blatant attempt to show off by posting a photo of me with the model

no 14

Hope you enjoyed them!!!!

Cheers

Cal

Cal,

I think that series is spectacular. You have achieved a huge amount in one session. I've looked at a lot of this stuff and Fran is one of the coolest underwater models I've ever seen, hell it's like she's not even underwater. Having fun and really showing it in the photography is no less valuable or difficult than the 'serious artsy' stuff. Your execution and ingenuity are awesome.

Keep it coming. Hey you may be the next Howard Schatz.

(By the way it's not PC to use the word 'chick' you know. )

WOW!

Awesome work Cal!!

That's it - I'm going to pool as well

Cheers

Karel

Hey Cal great work buddy, Fran is real natural and you've done a great job together.

I really like the composite picture but would love to see how it would have looked with a little more depth so she could stretch out more,

she looks too cramped in those shots. Shots like 5 and 9 although lovely (especially 9 it's very classy) don't do it as much for me as for all

appearances they could have been taken in a dry studio and for me kind of defeat the purpose of shooting UW. As such its images like

2, 11 and especially 13 which incorporate the element and thus have more ambience.

Keep up the experimentation!

Cheers,

Jim.

Cal,

Great work! You've come such a long way in just a few months. It looks like you really put to use some of the tips you got here last time about moving your lighting around. I can really appreciate it in #9 where the strobe is out of the pool. Fantastic!

Fran is a good model - you should shoot with her all the time. Her face looks really natural and she looks really comfortable and relaxed. That is SO hard to get in an underwater model.

Good idea using a black sheet for a background. Loftus and I both do something similar, and the bigger the better.

Can't wait to see more - keep up the great work.

James

The Black and White one (no 9) is pretty outstanding.

I love quite a lot of the results .. fantastic .. and i like them even more than results that others get with SERIOUS lighting systems. Simple lighting can really bring out an image in my opinion when you get it right.

My one thing is I see no evidence of weights on the models .. are they sinking naturally ? I am guessing position of weight can aid or take away from the poses and or positioning of the model.

Do you use any weights ?

Those are all awesome man. I agree with all the others that how natural and how she looks like she's having a great time really gives the photos a boost.

Im envious of these Cal - top work!

For a random model she seems to be a natural. Well done.

Todd

Thanks guys!

I'm learning more and more with each shoot that I do.

The model had no weights on her and just breathed right out to sink. She could only stay down for a shot or two before surfacing (me as well haha.)

I appreciate the feedback!

Cheers

Cal

Very nice. And I'm jealous of your workplace too if this is a typical "office mate".

She does indeed appear very comfortable in the water - I like the composite composition, and the B&W also is very clean.