Hmmm. Tough one. I see the cluttered background as the main problem. If I were to shoot an angle like that seen in your digipic, I might try to shoot it at night with two flash units carefully aimed and diffused. You'd probably get random lights in the background from the houses, but that might be nice. Street lights could be a problem. Daylight is another story. If you could get up on a ladder you could eliminate much of the background, but that would be a different shot. However, I think that's your best shot. It's hard to tell sun direction since it appears to have been shot at noon or thereabouts, but some low backlight coming in from behind the figure wold be nice. Shoot it off a ten foot ladder with a wide angle lens. Limit your background to the landscaping around the figure. You could still use reflectors to cast more light on the figure than on the background. However, this is a situation that just about screams for digital post processing. You would have much more ! control and end up with a better final result. Paul
> This is the sculpture that I want to photograph: > > http://home.earthlink.net/~my-pics/sunbather.html > > Shel > > > > [Original Message] > > From: Paul Stenquist > > > I thought about your shot while I was out for my morning walk on this > > lovely spring day. The classic way to accomplish this on film (or > > digital for that matter) is to shoot the scene when backlit using > > large reflectors to light the sculpture. The sun should be off to one > > side or the other about 45 degrees rather than fully backlit, but it > > must be behind the sculpture. If the grass is totally in the shade > > you'll be able to nail it. For reflectors just use a couple of pieces > > of large white mat board or white foam core. Prop them up to reflect > > the light back on the sculpture or have your PAs hold them. (You do > > have production assistant's don't you?). Flag the sun if you have to > > with a black mat board to make sure you don't get any flare. > > > > Exposure and processing will earn you very little with color film. > > Controlling the light is the time proven method to achieve shots like > > you describe. > >
