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Leann Rimes
This is one of the most popular photos that i've taken. It's led to much work for me as well as received many compliments from photographers and others alike.
I shot this at my studio right after we had the metal sheet wall installed. This was the first time shooting on that wall and being so highly reflective it was a big challenge.
I knew that I wanted to hang the leaves all around her. it was my original concept and I was a bit nervous it would come out the way I wanted. Still, I took the risk and had one of my assistants spend the hour or so hanging them just the way I wanted.
After a few attempts at different lighting techniques, I finally came upon the one that gave me the look I wanted. Some of this was done before she arrived and it was finished up while she was in hair/makeup.
The problem I was having was giant white hotspots were showing up due to the lights. It's an obvious challenge anytime you have a highly reflective surface like sheet metal. To remedy it, I did the following.
To camera left and right at 45 degree angles I placed a strip light softbox on both sides. These are Chimera brand stripboxes and they have just enough built-in flagging to keep the light from spilling onto the wall. These lights lit her frontally.
Behind her I had a Profoto ring flash at 45 degrees camera left and a Profoto Beauty dish at the other 45 degrees camera right.
I used 4x8 foot foam V-flats to flag the two rear lights from hitting into the camera lens.
And that was it; a bag of fake leaves from Michael's, some fishing line and 4 lights.
Of course LeAnn is gorgeous and she really does make the shot all by herself. She also goes down as on the nicest and most personable people I've ever shot.
