The black swan - and friends (Patreon)

It's been some years since I shot these with Amanda. She used to study at the Royal Danish ballet but at some point didn't "make the cut". Ballet selection is brutal but life has to go on.

So here are two shots I did with Amanda

The first time we shot in the studio we decided to shoot some ballet-inspired images (because why the heck not). Amanda had the Tutu's and stuff anyway. 

The first two shots were done with a small Fresnel lens (it's about 18cm and some Chinese brand I found on E-Bay along with a Hensel adapter I could modify to Profoto). 

Hint: Small lights used from a distance = Distinct shadows.

Fresnel lenses have this stunning light fall-off which is evident in the first two images. Something similar could be achieved with a honeycomb grid but it hot quite the same with the fall-off.

I can't remember the exact light on the next 3 shots but I think the first was a soft box  and the others were a large matte silver umbrella. 

The mirror image is just a behind the scenes (but shot with the real camera) and the shadow heavy one is sunlight streaming through a window I wanted to try out.

The second shoot was a couple of months later one summer where it had been raining and storming for weeks on end. Frustrated of not being able to shoot outdoor I resigned and made a Facebook casting in a model/Photographer group for some models who wouldn't mind getting wet and cold on a rainy shoot (I didn't count on anything happening but 2 hours later I had 3 models eager to try it out). 

All of them are shot in daylight (what's left of it).