Photo is from the newly released book 'i - a book about the strength and flexibility of women' www.iconimaging.ca/book
Lighting Setup
The entire series of images for the book were done with a 3 light setup. Two lights were aimed into to white v-flats (2 - 2'x6' pieces of white coreplast, taped together). The camera was positioned in between the two lights/v-flats, shooting through a gap that was about 1' wide. The third light was above the background (10' high) about 3' in front of the background, aimed where the floor and background met, with a 10"x36" softbox.
Shoot
Each shoot lasted about 2-3 hours and consisted of reviewing 30-40 possible poses with the model, and selecting about 20 images base on the models capabilities and comfortable level.
We would then proceed to shoot some of the simpler poses (usually with the models back towards the camera, this aided in the model becoming more comfortable), then building up towards the more difficult poses. We would review the images after after each pose to make sure that hair, expression, body position, and pose was perfect. The models input towards the images and poses were always welcomed, and often lead to one of the stronger images from the shoot.
Post Production
The post production on these images was pretty simple. All images were imported into Lightroom, and stacks were created for each pose, with the top image of the stack being the best image for that pose. The rest of the editing was done in Photoshop. Converting to BW (similar settings as BW IR), then removed any blemishes, tattoos, marks on background, etc., burning and dodging, and lastly softening the skin by using the plugin portraiture. All edits were done with layers (non-destructive editing).
Book facts
4 years of shooting (in between shooting for my commercial photo clients)
57 women
Over 15,000 images taken
Over 120 full page images
