This post is about the tutorial day my wife and I had at Restrained Elegance in January.

The day ran to a special programme set up for us – and in particular for my poor eyesight. So, it was not like the tutorials RE has run in the past nor should you expect any future tutorial to follow it in detail.

Our first excitement was to see the new Restrained Elegance house. It is quite amazing – and we wish Hywel and Ariel so much happiness in it. We got to see the whole place: “China” and “Japan”; the bedroom and the kitchen; that dark corridor that creates so many atmospheric RE and SS sets and – of course – the “dungeon”, which in fact is quite a network of old stone passages.

In the morning, we concentrated on a mass of photographic and studio lighting theory. We had taken some lights of our own and set some up in the “Japan” room so Hywel could explain “hard” and “soft” lighting and demonstrate the effects of different modifiers, reflectors and so on. Somehow Ariel managed both to be in the right place to model for any practice shots we needed and to keep me supplied with cups of tea.

Some pictures illustrated the lighting setup so we could remember it. Here Ariel demonstrates “glamour” lighting (who better?)

We then moved on to more practical lighting and bondage photography. Hywel offered us a series of locations but we chose the kitchen table because it was a reasonable match for an “island” unit in our own kitchen we use for our photography. We started setting up lights – first a “hair light”.

As Ariel demonstrates, the hair light helps separate the model in the foreground from the background but leaves her face mostly dark. So we added a second main light, the “key light”.

There is still part of Ariel’s face in shadow. Hywel now showed just how to add the third light, a “fill” light … and …

… , since we were learning about bondage photography, a couple of ropes.

We then set about a session of glorious photography with Hywel advising on focus, angles, the different “glamour” and “hollywood” lighting and so on while Ariel moved without apparent effort through a huge range of wonderful poses. One lesson we may not have learned perfectly yet – don’t be afraid to tell the model to slow down!

Given that this was a tutorial from the owners of Restrained Elegance and Silk soles, I had to include one shot where Ariel showed off her feet.

Before taking more pictures, we moved on to learning some bondage ties with Ariel demonstrating her skill as a bondage rigger … er … on me! Let me assure everyone that this model is most unlikely to be available (or wanted) on future tutorials. 🙂 Hywel continued to advise and my wife took pictures. Ariel mostly kept out of the way but couldn’t resist occasional photobombing.

Yes, this image has been cropped. I’m a coward sensibly not showing my face on the forum)

That’s a brief outline of a very special and personal day my wife and I spent at Restrained Elegance. I don’t know when or if there will be more tutorials. I have noted how busy Hywel and Ariel both are at the moment and how many other projects they are also working on. I simply say ours was a fantastic, enjoyable day with two really wonderful people. My wife and I understand the programme for more “conventional” RE tutorials is likely to be quite different. So it is very possible that we will be among the throng of people queuing up for one.

Thank you.

• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by  tfandrew.