This image of Anastasia was photographed in a hotel suite in Blevio, Italy during a one on one photo workshop* project near Lake Como. The goal was to create an image that felt quiet and natural while maintaining complete control of the light.
Although the photograph appears to be illuminated by window light, the illumination actually came from a Lumedyne battery-powered strobe pack with a power cable connected to a Lumedyne strobe head. The head was placed inside a 30×30 inch (760mm) LightwareDirect softbox fitted with a 40-degree grid. The controlled light allowed me to shape the scene without losing the soft mood I was after.
I kept the composition tight, allowing the viewer to focus on her eyes, expression, and the subtle details within the frame. The shallow depth of field helps isolate the subject while the warm tones mixed with some blue on the left add to the overall atmosphere.
Blue light? Yes. If this was shot using tungsten light (the lights that have a burning filament) the Color Temperature will be around 2500° Kelvin, meaning the color is going to be quite yellow/red. So a Digital photographer would set their camera’s Color Temperature to match, 2500° Kelvin. Or at least not as yellow/red, maybe 3200° Kelvin. Then if there was some daylight present, it would have a Color Temperature of 5000° to 6000° Kelvin, or blueish.
I like this push/pull light imbalance: A pleasing yellow/red (Warm light) and a cold light, 6000+° temperature. I will frequently manipulate the color to an image for drama.
This is one of the test shots. This helps me to decide what needs fixing.
This was the main photo of the shoot:
* I teach my version of photography & video to students in a one on one format. This means I devote 100% of my time teaching. I have taught people that can barely turn on their camera up to very good professional photographers that want to change their style and/or explore a totally different type of photography, like a fashion photographer wanting to shoot lifestyle. Or a landscape photographer wanting to know more about Cowboy imagery.