I prefer the full color images. But then I’m a fan of big fluffy light and not so much a fan of dramatic lighting. In particular I’m a not-fan of low key lighting, and while this set isn’t true low key, the desaturated image come closer to low key than the full color ones.

I’ll put in a vote for a new storyline, rather than continuing “Game of Slaves.” Maybe a tongue in cheek conflict between two different groups of slavers:

“We must steal the Earth women from the alien invaders so that they can be sold to the elf lords!”
“No! We must abduct the human women from the elf lords and give them as tribute to the aliens!”

More generally, make the background into something fantastical, with any references to modern political or culture-war issues scrambled so as to avert any sort of mapping to real-world factions (when they can’t be left out entirely).

Re Hywel and Penny being on opposite sides of the country. This is where I throw in the old chestnut about 100 years being a long time in the US and 100 miles being a long distance in the UK. OTOH, checking Google maps it looks more like 200+ miles. But on the gripping hand, 200+ miles is the distance I drive a couple of times a year to run a D&D game for some old friends.

Thanks for the heads-up. I look forward to the tutorial series.

EDIT: Also, I notice a set with Faith Obae in the archives. Do you think you could get her to come back and do some new sets?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by  Sablesword.

You still have unreleased sets from the Great Northern Sweden Expedition?

Coming in from a Nikon crop-sensor point of view…

First, let me add my thanks to Hywel for the tech notes and tutorials, and for including EXIF data in the photos he uploads.

Second, “Distance.” When photographing a model, I try to keep a good distance away and let the zoom focal lengths fall where they will. It helps that I seem to be naturally immune to the “creep closer, zoom wider” syndrome that Hywel mentions in the focal-length tutorial. If anything, my impulse is to do the opposite, whenever I have room to back up.

It turns out that most (90%+) of my shots are 35mm or longer – which on a Nikon DX (crop sensor) is “equivalent” to 52mm on a full-frame camera. The shots that are wider I don’t worry about; usually I’ll have had a good reason for it. E.g. I’m standing on a chair looking down at model lying on the floor.

One place a photographer might want to use a wider focal length is for a shot that takes in the entire room, with the model occupying a relatively small part of the frame. Or if the room has two or three models.

My current three-lens kit is a 35mm f/1.8 prime, a 50mm f/1.8 prime, and a 24-120mm f/4 zoom. Multiply by Nikon’s 1.5 DX crop factor to get the full-frame equivalent focal lengths. I use the primes when I need to deal with ambient light, and the zoom when I need to deal with an improvised studio.

As for deliberate distortion, my inclination is with the fashion photographers who take distortion in the opposite direction, using extreme telephoto lenses to get a very “flattened” view of the model.

I could also say the very-RE dress looks amazing but would be better with shoes, however, I’ve lost this arguement before…

And I’m someone who would like to make sure that you’d lose it again 🙂 🙂 🙂

As for “steel bondage vs stringwork,” if I have a preference it’s for leather cuffs and belts. (As long as the cuffs don’t look [UKism] rubbish [/UKism]) But I have a stronger preference for variety, and I do like seeing RE use the elegant, expensive steel restraints that I can’t really afford myself. Just not all the time.

A steel-bondage series I’d like to see is for “Nude in Metal” to be revisited as “Scantily Clad in Metal.” The models would wear skimpy clothing that left 60-90% of the skin bare, or perhaps something that vaguely resembled a “Slavegirl Leia” outfit. That would add some color – one of my gripes about the original NiM series was the lack of color with the images being all black, white, gray, and fleshtone. IOW: Dull.

Another change I’d like to see is more “hands in front” and less “hands behind” in the new “scantily clad in metal” sets, especially when the models are trying to perform chores when bound. A second gripe I had with the original sets was the way the models seemed to be pulling things out of their unfortunate implications as they (e.g.) set the table.

That first photo looks especially interesting: Wide-eyed and toe-tied.

Yes, I’m one who would appreciate seeing some wide-angle behind the scenes shots. In fact, I may have asked you earlier about doing this.

Funny, I have the opposite opinion. I find that dark backgrounds make light-skinned models look a bit pasty and cause dark-skinned models to fade into the background. Whereas light or white backgrounds make models of all complexions look good.

Hey Jeff:
The usual trick is to put ropes in a lingerie/delicates mesh wash bag to wash in the washing machine. I’ve done this myself with the nylon & polypropylene web-straps that I use. It keeps them from getting tangled up with themselves or with the mechanical bits in the machine.

I thought I already posted on this, but yeah. If anything, my line for fantasy vs reality is even further back than Hywel’s.

That’s why I don’t like kinky fiction (in any medium) about celebrities or politicians, no matter what my opinion of the celebrity or politician being “sent up” might be. Not even if it’s a “No Celebrities Were Harmed” version.