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A Yucatan Story - Monte Zucker - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

Published 01/04/2005

Again, keeping my compositions simple and dramatic, I selected a camera angle from which I could photograph against a clear sky with no distractions. I had wanted her to turn her body more towards me so that I could see her right arm, but the language barrier made it almost impossible to communicate clearly what I wanted her to do.

A rest-stop for refreshments created the atmosphere for another picture. Inside the typical Yucatan restaurant the menus are painted on the walls. What a backdrop for this picture - lit simply by light coming in the open doorway. I picked up a bit of red from the tablecloth and overlaid the entire picture with a 10% opacity of the colour to help pull the whole image together.

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 fall-off.

Towards the end of the day, I posed another model against the backdrop of the surf. I shot from a high angle which allowed me to totally fill the area behind her with the sea. I made several exposures - all getting different looks with the waves constantly changing. 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.

Shut up! Listen! Watch and learn!

Towards the end of the day, I posed another model against the backdrop of the surf. I shot from a high angle which allowed me to totally fill the area behind her with the sea. I made several exposures - all getting different looks with the waves constantly changing. 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.

At times Robert's posing was quite unique. I called it the "Lino-Lean!" Other times our styles blended and we combined what we both liked. Such was the case for this photograph of the couple posed within an archway of one of the many stately monasteries we visited. White-against-white seemed to always work well. I chose my camera positions as I always do to show exact facial angles. Here, his profile to her two-thirds view was perfect when I separated their faces for clean, facial outlines. It was a spot perfectly chosen to take advantage of all natural light. As a matter of fact, Lino seemed to use very little lighting accessories - not even a reflector. At times everything worked perfectly. Sometimes, I wished that I had had either my Quantum TTL flash or one of my Westcott reflectors.

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1st Published 01/04/2005
last update 09/12/2022 14:51:23

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A Yucatan Story - Monte Zucker - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5 6