One thing that I’m going to spend some time during the shoot working on is exposure.  I know it sounds silly to still be working on exposure since that’s what photography is all about.  But I’ve found that exposure is not as easy to understand as it seems.  Sure I could can rely on my meter and move the dials until the meter indicates a “correct exposure”.  The problem with this is that there is no “correct exposure” that will be “correct” all the time.  My meter might tell me that the correct exposure for a composition might be ƒ8 1/125th sec. but if I shift my composition slightly, the meter might make me jump to 1/200th sec. TTL  meters in most of today’s cameras are good but I know that my in camera meter doens’t always give me the image I want when it reads a “correct exposure”.

I find that my camera’s meter is about 1/2-2/3rds of a stop to bright.  This is great for bringing out details in the dark areas of an image but it tends to blow out the highlights which is worse.  I’d rather play it safe and lose the detail in the shadows if I can retain the details in the brighter areas of my image.  One of the ways to do this is to take notice of the histogram view after the image is captured.  Making sure that the graph shows me data in the middle of the histogram.  If the graph is touching the left edge, the image will be too dark.  If the graph is touching the right side of the histogram, then the image contains blown out highlights.  By making sure that the graph stays in the middle of the image ensures a good exposure with good contrast and saturation.  I will of course see how this works during the shoot with Jillian and report back later….

The model has never done nude modeling before so it should make for a challenging shoot. If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve probably figured out that I love to be challenged.  It forces me to be better.  It makes me work harder in communicating ideas and poses.  It also makes me really analyze how I shoot and how I compose the shots.  I can’t wait to work with her and see what else I might learn!

I’ll be updating the site as I usually do after every shoot so stay tuned…

I’ve been quite surprised by the models I’ve worked with through this experiment. Rose, as an example, is a woman I’ve known for years but never worked with her as a model until a few weeks ago. Even though I knew her, I still wasn’t sure what I was going to get and she turned out to be quite an amazing model. I’m glad I asked her to pose for me. And I’m sure we’ll be working together soon. I’ve found so many great models and wonderful women through this experiment that I find myself anxious to meet this new model this weekend.

The location I’ve selected is a place I’ve shot at before. The last time I was there it was an afternoon shoot. This time we’ll be doing a morning shoot. It’s a place that has a lot of nature but also man-made elements as well. The location also features an old road which I look forward to using. I also want to explore where that road goes. It branches off in a direction that looks like it just goes off into the bamboo but it might lead to something interesting. So I’m thinking that we’ll start off at the top of the mountain, move to the road and then move into the wooded area. Being nude in the woods will be a great way to end the shoot.

I guess we’ll see what happens…

This shoot will especially test me because it’s the first shoot I’m doing where I have a definite idea of where I want to go and how I want things to progress.  I have some very specific poses in mind.  I just hope that they work.  Other shoots Ive done I’ve had a few ideas that I wanted to play with but this time it’s very specific.  Partly because the model requested it but also I feel that by giving the shoot more structure I hope to get a more focused shoot and in the end, more time to take better shots.  However I will still allow some room to play and just have fun.  I have to, otherwise…why do it!

I’ll write about the shoot after we’re done so stay tuned…