Black & White Nude
Model: Hérodiade Chatnoir
Photographer: Davide Fiammenghi
RCE Foto, Rovigo
June 2021
In the early summer photo shooting with Hérodiade Chatnoir I designed two specific setups for black and white. In order for me to be fully pleased with the fineart prints of these photos, I analyzed the relationship between RGB grey and shades of gray on paper through empirical research. I can now rely upon reference models thanks to which I will be able to get close to the optimal result already at the first printing test. Note: images on site are optimized for screen viewing, they’re different from print files.
Here I used four Cactus RF60X portable flashes controlled by V6 II transceiver and arranged in a split light scheme with key light at -45° in 22×90cm octabox, 16:1 fill light in Ø90cm octabox on boom arm, 80×80cm reflector panel (16:1) tilted 45° in front of the model, 2:1 rim light on the right in Ø65cm octabox, background light in Ø18cm reflector on haze (I measured zone III on the black background). I adjusted the shadows in post-production so they were still detailed in the print.
For the last two photos I tried out a split light scheme with four different gels on the flashes, key light at -45° in 22x90cm softbox, 8:1 counterposed light in Ø90cm octabox, 4:1 effect light in Ø65cm octabox on boom arm, zone III background light in Ø18cm reflector on black cardboard. In post-production I contrasted and brightened certain sides of the figure by adjusting the colors before converting the image to black and white.
For the fineart printing of this series I chose Canson Baryta Photographique II paper.