Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’ve been shooting at “f/8 and be there” with a Nikon D90 (crop sensor – “DX” in Nikon terminology). Partly because I was going for maximum sharpness, wanting photos for drawing references, and partly because the D90 has a base ISO of 200, which makes it tricky to go wider than f/8 with studio lights.
But in terms of good looking photos, there’s something to be said for putting the background out of focus. I’m not a fan of shallow depth of field where part of the model is in focus and the rest not. Even when it’s not as extreme as “eyelash in focus; eyeball out of focus.” A more common case that I’d just as soon avoid is the hogtie where the face is in focus and the feet not. Or vice versa. I’ve had this happen on occasion even with f/8 on DX. It’s not a bad effect, but it’s not necessarily my favorite, either.
De-emphasizing the backdrop by putting it slightly out of focus though… And when I’m doing “walking around” shots with ambient light (and a prime lens), it makes a virtue out of necessity, and since the backgrounds for such shots are usually more cluttered anyway, putting the background out of focus is more desirable anyway.
What has me thinking about this more, right now, is that I rented (I’m in the US, so chattels get “rented” while people get “hired”) a Nikon D7100, because I’m thinking of upgrading my D90. The D7100 has a base ISO of 100 instead of 200, so I turned up the power on my studio lights to compensate – but I did think about dropping from f/8 to f/5.6, instead.
If you’re in the middle of a photoshoot, and you want a shallower depth of field for a few shots, do you normally stop and turn down the power on your studio lights to compensate for the increased aperture? Bump up the ISO to compensate to avoid mucking with the studio light settings? I expect that if you’re shooting outdoors with sunlight, you’ll increase the shutter speed – right?
Two quick thoughts:
1. I think in front of the bay window and in front of the bookcase are two of my favorite RE locations, along with the red oriental room.
2. Those clothespins look much more “ouchy” than the usual RE fare.
I appreciate the heads-up.
I suspect I’ll prefer the studio lighting style, but it will still be interesting to see what happens with available light.Well, *I* am here for the barefoot bondage too. But I’m also here for stills, rather than video.
I’m still on Restrained Elegance, when I let my other paysite subscriptions lapse, because RE is so good a match to what I like, in so many ways. But video is not something I care very much for.
How expensive is it to shoot a stills set, compared to a video?
I’m glad you warned us ahead of time about the big “roadblock” of non-barefoot video coming down the line, and the reason for it.
Now that I’ve had a chance to watch the post-processing tutorial: Thumbs up.
It reminded me a bit of the “booking a fetish model” video, in that it mostly covered thing I’d had already figured out, or had blundered through in a non-standard way. But there were some good hints that I didn’t know. Also, I’m looking forward to part 2 because I haven’t figured out about “cloning” and retouching flaws.
Also, even though video is not usually my favorite form of tutorial, Hywel made it work for me. Maybe it’s because our minds work alike in some important ways. (The focal-lengths video also worked for me, whereas the booking-a-model video had me wishing for a text transcript. Sorry, Ariel, but my mind works more like Hywel’s than like yours…)
FWIW, the program I use for dealing with RAW (Nikon .nef) files is Raw Therapee, plus Fast Raw Viewer.
OK, the yearly membership options have gone live, and I’ve renewed. Thanks, Hywel.
I’ve download what I’ve missed over the past 12 days, and will have to take time to look them over.
[grumble] I’m looking forward to seeing this, but I’m in limbo right now. I am (or was) on yearly automatic renewal, and I made sure that my credit card info was updated – and then my bank “helpfully” declined the charge and informed me of “possible unauthorized activity.” I call and told them that the charge was authorized, but apparently the damage was already done.
Right now I’m waiting to see if it can be fixed from the Gametime end.
I suspect the “authorized staff only” sign is more about keeping clueless customers from miscutting and wasting chain, rather than a Sign of the
BeastNanny-State.But I could be being optimistic, here, given the arrogance and stupidity of the Nanny-State.
OK, I suspected that you might have only a limited number of overhead securing points. But I didn’t suspect that the limited number might have been “one.”
For me, at least, the answer is a big NO. I don’t like 16:9, and I expect it to someday become depreciated as a standard. Of course, this may happen as the result of 21:9 becoming the new most-common monitor size… 🙁
One idea I’d like to put forth is reviewing the old posts on this forum (and on the old forum archive) for suggestions and inspiration. Also (if you don’t already do so) review your old sets with an eye to finding things you’d like to revisit, or do a little differently, or do a lot differently.
In response to the latest Sardox piece (“Wasps”) I was going to post “why I like drawings on RE in theory, but not in practice” but I realized I’d be repeating myself.
OTOH, the drawings of my own that I contributed to RE didn’t seem to be very popular either, despite them lacking (of course) the things I dislike. So different people must dislike drawings for different reasons.
Maybe it’s part of a general trend: Video > Still Photos > Drawings – people prefering images that are more life-like to those that are less life-like. Or something.
There is a reason why Home Depot here in the US gets referred to as “Dom Depot.”
I’m spoiled, at my location. I’ve got two or three hardware stores within a couple of miles of my home. Extend that a few more miles, and there are two or three more. And they’re also good for certain kinds of DIY photography-studio gear.
“Custom photoshoot” OK, somehow I missed that part. It does put a completely different complexion on things: I can’t bring myself to blame anyone when a custom photoshoot is done the way the customer wants.
Any “entry level” DSLR is going to be a good camera these days. My advice is to visit camera shops, hold the various models, and pick the one that feels good in your hands. Also be sure to budget for accessories. In particular, get a cheap & cheerful 35mm or 50mm prime lens as a second lens, rather than the telephoto zoom they try to sell you as part of a two-lens kit.
Beyond that, what lenses, lighting gear, and other stuff you want to get depends on precisely just what kind of photos & video you want to make.
My own starting kit was Nikon D90 with 18-105mm kit lens, 35mm f/1.8 DX prime lens, SB600 speedlight (which I quickly realized was a mistake and traded in for an SB700), extra battery, extra memory cards, camera bag, and a few minor bits & pieces. I also quickly picked up some studio strobes. I knew I wanted to do whole-body stills (no video) indoors with off-camera flash or in not-so-bright ambient light.
I do much the same thing: Stand on a chair, or stool, or on the hotel-room bed. But I suspect that there are differences in the details. Shooting with a 24-xx zoom lens on a crop sensor D90 makes it easy to avoid going below 35mm 🙂
Hywel, do you mostly switch to one of the Canon bodies when shooting downward angles? Or have you picked up a wider lens for the Hasselblad?
Pling does have nice hair 🙂
Last year I did a shoot with her hair loose; this year with it in that long braid. I like both and I’m glad to have photos of both now.
My suggested modification to Never118’s idea:
One model stars as a kidnapper who has been given a photograph of her target with a key to her house. She lets herself in and finds the girl in the photograph. The target is a foreign princess, ready to go to a formal reception in her satin ballgown. The kidnapper grabs her, straps her to a stretcher with duct tape for transport (with the victim losing her shoes in the process), and gags her (the scarf cleave gag can be kept, here). A second girl turns up, also wearing a satin ballgown, and she can’t be allowed to leave. (She might be bodyguard, sister, lady-in-waiting, whatever.) So she’s also taped down on a stretcher and gagged. The kidnapper then calls for transport, and a male character shows up (Hywel, or some other male member of the RE crew, to cut the “all girl, all the time” aspect of these shoots that just bug me.) Together, the kidnapper-model and the guy carry off the two stretcher-bound models, one at a time.
The motive might be “kidnap for ransom” or “kidnap for Honest Omar’s slave market.”
If having two models bound is too elaborate and too much trouble, the second victim can be left out: Just have the foreign princess tape-strapped to the stretcher, gagged, and rendered barefoot, and then have the guy-kidnapper show up to help the model-kidnapper carry the stretcher out.
The guy-kidnapper’s clothing should match the model-kidnapper’s. They might both be in ambulance-attendants uniforms, or they might both be in evening dress.
I don’t think tumblr is a good site to park photos; I tried a while back, uploading photos there and then attempting to display them here. Tumblr has a fancy, “kewl” web interface that (deliberately?) makes linking photos difficult, especially if they’re rated as “mature content.” In any case I was never able to get my photos on tumblr to display here, so I’ve resorted to linking to them from sablesword.com
I use a zoom lens, and I shuffle around, but I suspect that if I shot in a regular studio with lots of room (or outdoors with lots of room) I’d do the opposite: I’d tend to move away, zooming in to compensate, until I was standing well back and bumping up against my zoom’s maximum focal length.
When I do get close, it’s to take shots from above. I’ll stand on a chair or something, and take photos of the model sitting or lying on the floor. The distance will be 8-9 feet, because I’m not shooting straight down, and the perspective distortion will be “could be better, could be worse.”
My requests
1. Post-processing work flow: What you typically do to get a RE set ready to post.
2. F-stops/apertures: How you choose them and why. (My “technique” currently is “stick to f/8” on a crop-sensor body.) Or perhaps it can be “subject isolation – how to do it, when to use it, and when not to use it.”
3. Lighting: Multiple lights, lighting ratios, and how to deal with spaces that are a pig to light.
Much of Ariel’s advice is stuff I’ve already figured out independently and/or blundered through in a non-standard way. I got my start at Fetishcon, contacting models who had advertised an interest in doing photoshoots, and then shooting in my hotel room. What broke the ice for me for doing shoots in my living room was a couple of traveling models who contacted me.
The first shoot in my living room was after I had a decent photo portfolio posted on the Internet. Before I had a photo portfolio, I think what helped is that I had a portfolio of drawings on-line where I had used other people’s photos as artistic reference. The drawings were evidence that I was interested in creating images, rather than wanting to book a shoot merely for the chance to tie the model up.
I’ve never booked a ‘proper’ studio, and I’d feel newbie-uncertainty about doing so. It also strikes me as a counsel of luxury. Ariel describes them as “inexpensive” but that was not my impression when I looked into the possibility. On the other hand, studio rental includes lighting, which would make it a better deal if you don’t have your own lights already. And on the gripping hand, I suppose “shoot in my hotel room at Fetishcon” counts as a non-standard form of booking a studio.
-
This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by
Sablesword.
Money! Money money money. That’s all my new roommates ever talk about. I’m tired of it. I think I’ll put a call in to Honest Omar, and then, as the saying goes, ‘money will have them.’
But how to set the trap? Hmm, this issue of Forbes actually looks interesting. I’ll try using it. All I have to do is leave it lying on the staircase as casual bait. Then I’ll go fetch the ropes and gags, and place a quick phone call.
Looks like we’re getting some nice sets in November.
Spreader-bars are a point where we differ, then. I think they’re fine, as part of a mix. I wouldn’t want to see them all the time, but I do like seeing them fairly often. I do find a close-tied package attractive (especially if it also includes toe-ties, and as long as it doesn’t look too stressful). But I also find spreader bars attractive – where you see clunkiness, I see a cute-awkward helplessness.
There was an old thread in the old forum on “Bondage turn-offs” (spelunking) Yep.
Here: http://elegancestudios.com/wordpress/?topic=bondage-turn-offs-what-do-you-hateI agree with you about torture (not liking it). However that’s one of the very few points where Hywel’s tastes differ from mine.
I also very much prefer bare feet. (“If the model isn’t barefoot, she isn’t in bondage, she’s just… tied up.”) In my case, however, it’s not because I dislike the distortion, but because I want the feet to be naked.
Please read the folder descriptions.
“Showcase your work” is for posting your own photos, fully-written stories, and artwork. Critiques and commentary go in the “General chat” folder. Story ideas (as opposed to fully fleshed out stories) go into the “Suggestion box” folder if they’re ideas you want Hywel and the Restrained Elegance crew to run with, and otherwise go in the “General Chat” folder. More generally, when in doubt, put it in the “General chat” folder.
Just a note: Comments like these are better posted in “General Chat” rather than here.
Thank you.
Although I hadn’t thought of Pling’s costuming here as “Indian maiden” – and it’s generic enough that “Indian” here might be taken as either American Indian or Asian Indian.The actual costume, as with most of my sets, is a sarong. They’re colorful, versatile, exotic-looking, and cheap enough that I can provide a box of 20 or so to choose from.
It’s harder to make nonconsensual scenarios fun and lighthearted, but it’s not impossible.
-
This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by
