October 2021 Pin-ups: Lady Dimitrescu Hiding (Patreon)

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Starting to get interested in black and white.

I try not to get too attached to any particular style of lighting so I spent some time going back and forth over this one.  At first I lit her from the front to try something a little more interesting, but when I lit her from the side I really felt conflicted.

A strong key light from the side is so easy it's like cheating.  See, when you look at the thumbnail it's easier to get an idea of the subject's form because of the high contrast and strong direction.  Since I often zoom out to get a better look of the overall composition, I'm often seduced into falling for this set up.  However recently I've wondered if it's always the best choice.  Even though the side light does a much better job at giving form, it potentially changes the mood or intent of the scene.  In the frontal set up, it's like she's hiding from a camera flash or a flashlight.  From the side, it's more like she's explicitly posing for a magazine.  The pose could be interpreted either way.

In the end I had to force myself to even render out the lower contrast frontal set up and just show both.  If I want to diversify my style, I have to get out of my comfort zone a little bit and give the 'worse' option a shot on occasion.

Thankfully I really like how the pose turned out.  It doesn't need much help from the lights to make it pop.