Photographing Catwoman Part 2

Catwoman Charly Aguirre with Hula Hoop

We set up in the street, using the porch lighting from one of the businesses, I used the other strobes, with the softbox and the silver bowl reflector, set to either side of her and later both of them to her right. I had to use a tripod and set the shutter do 1/40 and 1/30^th speed so I could catch a little ambient light. I also set focus in manual mode so that the camera would fire rapidly as she worked with the hula hoop. 


Thinking back on this, if I were to shoot this again, I would add one or two more strobes to push light into the background or raise my iso, because I still did not get the level of ambient light I wanted.

On the train platform

After the ally, we walked back to the street and another half block onto a Trax (the local commuter train) platform. I set lights on either side of her and Steve had to watch the light at the edge of the platform as trains and passengers came by.


 Again, I used the softbox to camera right and the silver reflector bowl to camera left, both roughly in the same plane as the model. I used a tripod to help keep the shutter speed slow. Steve shined a flashlight into Charly's eyes to help the auto focus function more quickly.


I used a small flashlight to put enough light on Charly's face for the auto-focus to be able to see. I will be making some changes to my gear set for night work to make this aspect work better for me. I'll post on that later.

Downtown SLC, Utah at Trax Station

Again, I used the softbox to camera right and the silver reflector bowl to camera left, both roughly in the same plane as the model. I used a tripod to help keep the shutter speed slow. Steve shined a flashlight into Charlys eyes to help the auto focus function more quickly.

By moving the one light in front to a few different positions, we quickly found several looks that I liked. Experimenting with the possibilities is one of the fun aspects of playing with light.

Catwoman among the Christmas lights in Salt Lake City

For the next location we moved about 100 feet and used a large tower/sculpture. I set one strobe behind the model and to camera right, hiding the light with the leg of the tower. Steven manned the other light, standing to my right, and we decided that we liked a couple of looks. One with the light high to the right and in front of the model and the other with the light low and to camera left as Steven held the light stand across me, shinning up at Charly. Both of these setups gave a nice specular highlight along the edge of the catsuit and showed of our model’s shape.

I will have an interview with Charly on my post tomorrow at SparkyModels.