Daily Photo – Green Apples
The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Erica from the KDH Dance Company poses with green apples. This shot is part of a series to be used to promote KDH’s 10th anniversary performance at the end of June (green apples are thematically relevant to one of the numbers, hence their use here).
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/500
- Aperture: f/2
- ISO: 400
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Composition and Processing
- I initially took a number of shots on the concrete floor, using the wall or the windows for backgrounds. The floor isn’t normally a bad match for modern dance, but the muted pastel costumes for this performance didn’t really fit. So I pulled out a large canvas drop cloth I’d picked up from Home Depot and lay that down on the floor. The texture and color of the canvas were more in line with what Erica was wearing, and offered a nice constrast to the green apples.
- I spent a lot of time getting Erica’s raised leg turned just right. I wanted to make sure it was rotated enough to balance the body (not to mention insure the foot was visible); bent to bring it in the frame; and high enough to create separation from the torso. Combined with the rest of Erica’s posture, this (hopefully) looks more like a dance pose than a fashion one. The leg also provides some nice asymmetry to an otherwise evenly balanced shot, and conveniently points to the upper left corner.
Original:
May 01 2009 04:54 pm | Photography
Daily Photo - KDH Question | Kevin Gliner's Blog on 15 Jun 2009 at 5:19 pm #
[...] It would be tempting to blow out the background completely and let the floor vanish into the distance. That may have worked here, but often times it leaves the shot unbalanced due to the remaining floor. So I left in faint elements of the wall. If the fade is in the shorter dimension though, it’s less of an issue and can work well (as in this other KDH Dance Company shot). [...]