One day, a long-time client of mine approached me for a bridal photo shoot. It was still winter, the weather was cold and shooting outside was not very inviting, so we were stuck in the studio. For her bridal creations, the client wanted to showcase a very edgy and contrasty look. Since the bridal dresses are made of different types of fabrics, some textured and pretty transparent, others shiny or glossy, I needed a light modifier who provided an excellent quality of light. So, I opted for Para 177 as the main light. This modifier is soft and crisp at the same time, and therefore the perfect tool to render the texture of the fabrics.
The gear I used:
- Para 177
- Scoro 3200 S
- Pulso G
- Octabox 150 with grid
We shot this edgy look with a gray background and a more accentuated light gradation on the model. The idea behind the shoot was to exaggerate the cyclorama curvature by adding more depth to the shot and to have some distortion on the model. I chose the 16-35 mm f 2.8 lens to help me achieve this result.
The setup was very basic. I placed the Para in a defocused position, quite close to the model. This allowed me to get that wrap around light coming from the Para and to keep the background gray as much as possible. The second light I used was a Octabox 150 with a grid and 2 diffusors. Since the Para was relatively close to the model, I needed a second fill light for the shadows. The small distance between the Para and the model resulted in a slightly sharp light fall-off, but the fill light helped me make the transition a bit smoother while still keeping that edgy look.
