Questions?

I regularly shoot Marianela for her portfolio. I lit this set of photos with a Calumet Travelite 750 with a large (32" x 40") softbox as my key light from camera right. I cross lit her with another Calumet Travelite 750. The rim light had a strip softbox (9" x 36") with a grid. For the background, I used an Alien Bee AB400 with a 20 degree grid.

This was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8. Lately, I've only been using the 85mm lens and my Canon EF 35mm f/2. Right now, I feel like all my needs can be met by those two lenses.

Here is the pull-back shot:


And a diagram:


I set up the lights before I knew I was going to shoot her in lingerie. She didn't mention this beforehand. If I knew, I would've set up the lights differently. I would've gone for a darker, more dramatic, and hopefully sexier feel. I don't really know how to handle a situation like that. She takes a bit of time to relax and I didn't want to unsettle her by re-structuring my lighting set-up. I was afraid she might lose confidence in me, so I stuck with this lighting set-up.

Lesson learned: asking thorough questions is part of pre-planning.