Master Class

Low Light--Great Shots!
As the daylight began to fade and the shadows lengthened, I noticed the light on the doorway to the local police station. I quickly posed one of our models in the doorway, taking advantage of the natural light falloff.

Toward the end of the day, I posed another model against the backdrop of the surf. I shot from a high angle that allowed me to totally fill the area behind her with the sea. I made several exposures--all getting different looks with the waves changing constantly. The sun was once again my main light. I positioned her to achieve a similar light pattern on her face that I use for almost all of my photographs.

Listen, Watch, And Learn!
Although it was difficult at times not being the teacher, it was very rewarding to listen to what Lino was teaching us. Small subtleties of his have since become a part of my own style.

For this ballerina portrait he positioned her between columns of a covered porch, keeping the light crossing over her body from both sides and her face turned toward the brighter light source.

To avoid showing the busy street traffic I cropped the picture to just within the columns and cloned in some trees to cover the distracting elements in the background.

Special Clothing For Special Locations
Our locations oftentimes screamed for special costuming. I thought of a particular gown that I had picked up at a recent convention trade show. This particular gown piqued my interest when I knew that I was soon to be returning to the Yucatan and visiting these incredible locations. My vision was realized when I posed a model wearing this unique dress by Barnes, (www.barnesclothing.com).

The soft, late-afternoon light was perfect for showing the detail of the dress. The ballerina's foot position allowed for the gown to fall perfectly for showing the unique design down the center of the gown.

All I had to do was to position her so that her face would stand out in a clear place within the wall behind her. I did clean out the electrical boxes and other distractions on the wall with Photoshop.

Blending Poses
Dancers have their own unique poses, but Lino sometimes seemed to blend them together with his own ideas. I flipped over his positioning this ballerina with her boyfriend in an archway high atop one of the walls surrounding one of the monasteries we visited. I was actually browsing through some of the souvenir shops across the street when I noticed that he had posed the couple there. I couldn't help but pick up my camera for another of my favorite pictures of the week.

Double Silhouette
Gauger set up this double silhouette to end the day. I exposed it on Aperture Priority, as I do for most of my daylight pictures. She, however, still prefers the manual setting of 1/125 at f/16.

The "trick" was to position the setting sun directly behind the model. Of course, for a good silhouette one also has to show perfect profiles of the subject. A silhouette without a face doesn't quite make it! The photograph was toned in this case with a warm filter over my lens, but it could have been done in postproduction using Photoshop or even in camera using one of Canon's new "filters" built-in to their new cameras.

And so we come to the end of a perfect Yucatan Experience hosted by Gauger and taught by Lino. There will certainly be more photographic trips to the Yucatan in the future, but none will be as exciting for me as when I'm being taught by two of my favorite students.