"My name is Ricardo Chao. I am a portrait and event photographer in southern Arizona. This photo was taken on Memorial Day in an area of Tucson, AZ called Tanuri Hills. We took the photo because most pool photos are taken during the day and I wanted to try something at night. I'm a big fan of darker more dramatic images, especially in b&w.
Shooting at night is similar to the studio, being so dark allows you to carefully control the shadows based on where you place the lights. When I first started shooting portraits last year I only used natural light because its cheap and convenient. I've since moved on to using off camera lighting in both strobes and speedlites. After a year of experimenting I feel comfortable using off camera lighting to make otherwise not possible images using only natural light.
The execution of the photo was pretty simple. I stood on top of a raised brick wall next to the pool to get a higher angle above the model Vanessa. A large piece of fabric is wrapped around her to flow with the water and create the surreal feeling. This was actually the first photo in the set as she is just beginning to submerge and her face is still dry. The lighting consisted of two bare Photoflex Starflash 650w strobes set at 1/4 power. These were used to light the water at two angles to catch the waves and create a hard rim light on the model. Three speedlite flash units were inside an umbrella soft box to add some extra fill to camera left. There is no photoshop besides convert to b&w via a gradient map. I have also attached a behind the scenes lighting photo so you can get an idea of the setup. Thanks again for the opportunity to share my work." -Ricardo Chao
EXIF:
Canon T2i camera body, Canon 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 lens, Shot at 21mm 1/80s, F/5.0, ISO 100