Cold As Ice

One of my New Years' Resolutions for 2012 was to ease up on photography and focus on planning more On Location shoots, or be more creative/themed in the studio.

After my shoot with Taylor, I was contacted by Heidi (a.k.a. The Makeup Monster) who was interested in trying out some new make-up and loved Taylor's look.

After a quick schedule exchange among the three of us, everything was set to go.  Based on "the look" Heidi was going for I figured it would be time to bring out some colored gels and also my fog machine.  After a lengthy search, I recalled that I threw away the fog machine after it failed on me during a C.O.M.P. shoot.  Then I remembered my buddy Brian used Dry Ice for a previous shoot and that in a studio environment, I could achieve the look I wanted.


Heidi started with a look that incorporated a more nude eye shadow and dewy skin look.  I'm not sure I captured it since moisture under studio lights  become highly reflective.  Originally I was going to shoot  it against a grey background, but decided I wanted to pop some color, so I removed my blue gels and switched to red.  The lighting was pretty straight-forward:

• Einstein with a 22" Beauty Dish and Diffusion sock as the Key
• Einstein with Barn Doors and Gel Holder for Rim
• SB-900 with HONL Speed Straps and HONL Gels for Background Light

I needed to shoot at least close to f/8 to ensure the make-up was tack sharp, and went with the SB-900 since it was doubled gel'ed and I need maximum flash power.  I could've used my AB1600, but decide to incorporate speed lights with studio strobes.

After we got the looks we wanted, I switched to the blue gels and pulled out the Dry Ice.  Brian suggested using really warm water to make the smoke denser, which turned out really well.  Lighting was identical, but we moved the Key around a bit more.

What Did I Learn?
Hmmm.....Dry Ice is fun - if you can do it in a controlled environment.
Backup up the B/G light - In this situation, I had the b/g light about 5' away from the grey seamless, but it was still to bright and I wasn't getting enough fall-off/gradient.  By moving it about 7' away, I got the desired effect.

This was definitely one of the best collaborations I've had in a long time with a Model and an on-site Make-up Artist.  It's really nice to find people you click with when shooting, but I've ignored my Vespa for too long.  Time to Scoot and Shoot!!!

P.S. Here's a Behind The Scenes image of the Lighting: