L U C I M A

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[lucima]

JDMBA

[lucima]

Desert Heat

[lucima]

Desert Heat

[lucima]

Desert Heat

#desert #heat #lautner #hotel #Annelise #cold #lucima

[lucima]

Chester

[lucima]

Chester

[lucima]

Frigo

[lucima]

Le Studio III (continued)

I had a very specific set of criteria when it came to choosing this space. I wanted direct and ambient sunlight which meant having a space that was in a building high enough to have an unobstructed view of the southern sky (more sunlight). I also wanted A LOT of light which meant large windows (preferably floor to ceiling) and lots of them. Of course, units that have the most windows are always corner units where two or more sides are lined with windows instead of just one. Additionally, I wanted to be in a building zoned for commercial-use vs. residential-use because I’d be working there full-time. Bedrooms, closets, and partitions were useless to me because not only would I not be sleeping there, but they would just segment the openness of the space. 

Other criteria were high ceilings, concrete floors, ample parking, good security, and a partial view of the city (with consideration to obstruction of light). Oh yeah and I wanted to be in downtown Los Angeles.

So after months of searching we wound up here!

[lucima]

Le Studio III

This is the third iteration of LUCIMA STUDIO. It’s also the first one that’s not an industrial warehouse. Choosing this location as the current iteration of LUCIMA STUDIO speaks volumes about my journey as a fashion photographer, specifically as it pertains to the type of light that I like.

Once upon a time I was a strobist. In fact I make no attempt to hide that I pretty much learned my basics on strobist.com and still think that David Hobby is the man. 

But I haven’t touched a strobe since the day I moved into this studio. And that’s only because I was moving into this studio.

Why not? Well first off, I’ve opted not to black out the curtains. In previous iterations of LUCIMA STUDIO it was fairly easy to block out the small skylight. Even if it meant renting a 14-foot A-frame ladder from Home Depot and taping black seamless paper over the skylight. Trying to black out 9x12′ windows is just not going to happen, much less three of them. That’s 324 square feet of light. I’d guess we’re talking $5,000-$10,000 worth of curtains depending on the quality. Considering they’d have to be floor-length, I don’t think I’m overestimating given the 10.5′ ceilings.

[lucima]

How involved are you with model development ? What do you say to a model when you want her to work a certain way to achieve a look such as from your editorial portfolio?

Git R Done! :) http://lucimablog.blogspot.com/2015/05/git-r-done.html

[lucima]

Hi there. I love your work man! Been following you on IG for a while and I'm glad to see you have a tumblr as well. I'm gonna take this opportunity to ask a question. Was just curious what your team is made up of? How important is having a stylist to your shoots and how did you put together your team?

Thanks for the message/question! So the answer is “it depends” (as it always does). From a quick scroll down the blog it looks like 99% of the pics is sans MUA, hair stylist, stylist, assistant, etc. The “team” is just me and the model.But if I look at the prints on my wall(s) there are are 50% that are much larger productions. The answer is really, use the right tool for the right job. There is a time and a place for everything. 

[lucima]

Boca

When I went to the Hollywood Model Management party, Kristen (a.k.a. Feral) told me that her roommate Rachel had the best body she had ever seen in person. That’s high praise coming from a model who isn’t too shabby herself. So I waited a week and I shot with the girl that Kristen said “had the best body she had ever seen in person”.

What did I think?

I think that pictures don't lie. 

First off, Rachel is a six-footer. Her card says 5′11″ but she’s she’s definitely 6′0″ or more. It’s okay. She’s not the first six-footer to underreport her height.

Secondly Rachel has legs for days. Partially a result of being a six-footer. 

Thirdly, and perhaps my favorite part of Rachel, was her face. Admittedly I couldn’t tell how she would shoot from her portfolio or even looking at her in person. But for our shoot she had nearly no makeup on and her face jumps out of the pictures. Her face shoots very very well. I have a couple prints of her in the office.

[lucima]

Wallflower

After moving into the new place I decided to paint our 3 faux walls grey. Picking out the right shade of grey was interesting. The last time I tried grey was at the previous studio and it turned out darker, shinier, and with a tint of blue. This time I walked into Home Depot with a grey card (albeit on my phone) and tried to match greys.

This mostly worked.

Luminosity is really important. More or less than 50% yields a drastically different result. Not all greys are created equally!

And I still somehow wound up with a bit of blue in the paint.

And I’m still in love with B&W. Toning B&W with spectral response and tonal response is so interpretive. Sometimes I think there’s more interpretation in B&W than there is with color. After all, no one sees in B&W so there’s no right or wrong with B&W. Every time you see something in B&W, someone had to make some decisions (even if it’s done automatically in software) regarding how those colors (and light) were translated into shades of grey.

With these images of Katherine I really wanted to push the tonality of her skin. Then I wanted to add contrast to pull out the shades of grey in her skin and the wall behind her.

Speaking of those walls. I need more. 3x 4′x8′ really doesn’t cover enough of her. Which meant I spent way too much time in Photoshop filling in the areas behind her that the walls didn’t quite cover. I’m still testing these walls so maybe I just need to change my working distance a little!

[lucima]

Dear Lucima, Film has its own quality and sometimes, that quality lends an appropriate feeling to the image. There are plenty of ways to imitate film in the digital world, but those ways seem somehow dishonest. I shoot primarily digital, but I try to shoot one or two rolls of film on a shoot as well. They are bonus material. That is how I have come to think of film. It is impractical, but in the end it can produce some of my favorite images from a shoot. I enjoy your work. respectfully, b

The comparison between film and digital will never end nor ever quite be reconciled. People will always try and emulate the effects and feel of film and I suspect people will also still shoot film for the rest of time even as the choices for film diminish. Look at vinyl, it’s even making a comeback!

[lucima]

Corner

Testing out the white corner in the office. Since this shoot, we’ve put some barstools a kitchen island (which came with the unit) here so we can open up the room for more working distance.

There are two large windows on each side of the corner. At 12′ wide and 8′ tall going all the way up to the ceiling (10.5′). They produce enough light where even with the curtains drawn I am shooting 1/250th, f/4, ISO800. With cameras as good as they are these days, I have as much flexibility as I want with shutter, aperture, or ISO. I shoot a lot at 1/250th because of legacy sync speed (and also for freezing motion). I like the shallower depth of field at f/4 although this changes depending on what working distance we’re talking about. I don’t have an ISO preference since the cameras I have are so competent with high ISO. Of course I’ll shoot base/native ISO when I can, but ISO is usually the last of my considerations.

I don’t have any definitive conclusions. There’s just a lot of light. It all wraps very well.

[lucima]

Cool Jeans

Hot window. In my search for lofts, I’ve learned that the more windows you have, the hotter it gets. Early February I saw a corner unit on the 15F of another building and it was 85ºF inside. When I walked in, I immediately exclaimed “WTF, the guy left his heater on”. Except when I walked over to check the thermostat I discovered that the heater was not on. The apartment was just baking under the sun.

So when we shot this look with Koko, I was very thankful we had the AC on and a fan. 

One of the bigger challenges of working with this window is that it is very wide. It’s 12′ side to side and can be challenging getting the whole window in the frame without my back against the wall. This window has also no cityscape. We’re on the 7th floor in downtown LA and on a clear day we can see all the way to Long Beach. I’ve been wanting binoculars or a telescope ever since we’ve moved in.

I’ve never really had functional direct sunlight. At the old studio, there was only 1 hour of direct sunlight during sunset of summer months. I’ve shot that light a couple times and it was always fun but you have to like that sunset color temperature. Now that we have more direct light in the new space we have more choices.

[lucima]

Feral

I think I’ve explained somewhere here or on lucimablog.blogspot.com that my titles are either inside jokes or something on a whim. I almost never explain them but feral was a term Kristen used to describe her look when we were reviewing the pictures on camera. It stuck.

I separated this shot because it was so different from the others. I wanted it to be appreciated and seen independently of the other images as well. It’s a shot that reminds me of who I am. All the classic LUCIMA shots that I have framed (which are sitting in a box ready to be hung in the new place). These shots speak to me. They’re timeless. And I could look at them forever.

I’ve left some paper at home but when I get some back to the studio on Monday, I want to see this in print.

How was this shot? All ambient. 1/500th, f/4.0 ISO500. Lots of bounce courtesy of our white walls.

And yes, Kristen was a doll. As nice as could be!