The roundbales
Added 2024-03-18 15:00:04 +0000 UTCIn the former airfield next to my studio are some large grassy areas. Once a year, they harvest the long grass and compress it into these round bales. Then they proceed to stand them, which is a unique, slightly abstract location I like to use when possible.
I was shooting Minka, and we were cruising around the airfield on my electric scooters. I decided to do a shoot.
I made a mistake that day:
I forgot to bring oil for her body, so they ended up with a matte look.
Shooting up against large bright surfaces like these poses the same problem you have when photographing on a white background: it reflects light and lowers contrast. Sometimes itβs good, sometimes horrible, but you must make peace with it and find a way to cope.
The first image has no issues as the model's shadow side is also the bale shadow side, so only a few reflections.
In the second image, I had to darken her legs around one f-stop as they were too light.
In the third image, you can see the (darkened) reflections on her thigh. And on the last, you can see what I mean here: the bale active becomes a source, and it muddles up the shadows on the part of her body, making them inconsistent.
