CAITLEEN SICAT
ON FILM
The production stills for 'Sicat II' were shot by Janice Chen using Kodak Portra 400 film. These were shot with my Nikon F4 film camera - a camera originally released in 1988. She was able to take these photographs in-between assisting me with the lighting and general setup of each scene.
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For the best effect when shooting production stills, you generally want to position your camera so the photographer's shoulder is out of focus in the foreground - while the focus point is on the model.
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You can use the same method when the MUAH, stylist or other crew is on-set while keeping in mind the model is always the hero element in focus.
Production stills are always best using the same film as the key photograph. The 35mm format is perfectly suited for both production stills and supplementary key images for it's quick use and ability to shoot up to 36 frames versus up to 16 frames on the Hasselblad H system. The Hasselblad H system is 6x4.5 which allows up to 16 frames per roll of 120film.
Film developed by C41 Film Labs (Link)
We had two looks total that Caitleen styled herself along with her own makeup/hair references that Amy Harper achieved perfectly.
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Look 1 started at 4pm - so I wanted to make sure I captured the strong golden lighting coming through the large windows by the stairs.
These windows covered the whole wall itself allowing a massive amount of light in for the film.
As a bonus, there were some real flowers in a vase ready to go for this initial scene which I repositioned for the best composition.
The outdoor view through the window wasn't particularly appealing being mid-winter and there were partial outdoor renovations.
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With this in mind, I had to shoot more shallow and aim to obscure the background as much as possible through composition and depth of field.
I was particularly happy with these shots by the stairs which allowed for quick accurate exposures through the internal light meter - being that the wall/stairs were behind her versus windows.
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While using a handheld lightmeter is recommended, the Hasselblad H2 light meter is impressive for most scenes.
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This is becoming more important as studio/location rentals are getting more expensive so it's always best to prioritize speed of use to get the content in the shortest possible time.
Amy Harper, MUAH / amyharper.ca
I really loved Amy's hair and makeup quality and even more so with Look 2. The hair ties further added to the appeal and along with the clothes it all came together perfectly.
Capturing BTS shots while the makeup artist is working on the model are always wonderful. I love the shot above that Janice captured.
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The softness of the window lighting, the depth of the image and the golden hour light dappling at the far back wall is quite pretty. It's BTS shots like this that usually never get shot...
This scene in the bathroom was ultra low light being lit by just two 60watt bulbs and some available light streaming in, fortunately it was enough light to work with and I managed to get some steady shots with the Asahi Spotmatic Original from 1964.
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I love taking mirror shots whenever I can - they add beautiful depth to a photograph. You can swap back and forth with the model looking at herself and then back at the camera through the mirror.
The decor in this room (shot above) was tricky to work with - the window coverings were not timeless at all and quite 'basic' along with other design elements that adds up to poor choices for an interior space's aesthetics. Too many decor choices that seems like everything was purchased from Homesense.
I started off with Caitleen in front of the curtain for some cleaner/less distracting looks. Caitleen is a natural in front of the camera with virtually every frame with her being excellent.
For the next scene with the bed I had opted to use low-light (as I usually prefer) which allowed the nightstand lamps to not be overpowered. The camera-left side was lit with simple bounce light using white v-boards along with a standard white board fill on the camera-right side as you can see below.
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It's always satisfying using constant lighting because when it comes to confirming how the light looks on a model you can see exactly how it looks right away. (WYSIWYG)
The scene below with the sideboard was one of my favourites. The little statues, painting and the plant all worked well for the hard lighting coming in from camera-left.
In this case, I opted for no additional fill with either a white board or actual second light. This gave a particularly dramatic look with very high contrast.
However, I wish I prioritized more time here to do a few extra frames using a second fill light - a tight timeframe overall made it tricky to stay at a scene for too long.
The small room below was great for some additional shots before the final scene in the upscale bathroom. This room had an extended desk area (not seen) which allowed for better use and distance of the lighting used.
The room itself was quite tight overall, particularly with a fixed 80mm (approx. 50mm equivalent) lens, but I was able to make it work.
The last scene in the luxury bathroom was surely one of my favourites. The room itself is actually in the basement and this allowed lighting to be positioned outside comfortably and at a tall height quickly. We got some wonderful shots both for the key and BTS photographs.
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A few challenges were that the light was particularly low lux on Caitleen being quite far way as it was placed outside. Shutter speeds necessary for proper exposure were then even more risky being handheld.
Time was very limited at this point so I felt it would be best to continue shooting handheld despite the risk. I still managed to get about 90% of these shots in the focus I wanted and shot quickly.
