“Shop the Shot” is a regular series on ALC where we highlight some of our favorite images taken by photographers from all over the world and reveal the gear and settings used to create them.
Photographer: Seth Miranda
Gear:
Settings:
ISO 100
F 5.6
SS 1/200th
The Story:
This was shot during a job where I had to get through shooting 16 separate concepts for 16 different Make Up Artists ranging from sleek high fashion to psychotic special effects and everything in between including this Avant Garde look. With such a full roster I only had 15 minutes maximum to shoot each concept. This means I see it, have to come up with a feel, light it and physically shoot the model in that quick 15 minute window. It’s fast paced and I don’t get to see what creations are coming to the set next. When this entered the studio my initial concerns were losing all detail in that fine textured but super white material. It was clear to me there was a heavy weight on the contrast aspect of the chaos and movement in the cloth against the model’s perfect strict look. The cloth had this motion feel to it even as it lay still on her face, almost like an underwater weightless aspect. It also had this shielding look to it which felt more voyeuristic the closer I got in perspective. The finger waves in her hair were a tight vintage juxtaposition texture that I wanted to keep 3-dimensional with the smooth curviness that went well with her eyebrow while the red veins in her eyeball matched up well with the chaotic texture in the cloth wrapping her face. After spending 5 minutes to shoot what I consider “safe shots,” to make sure I have at least a documentation of the make up, I quickly switched to a macro lens. All manual focus meant it was all on me, shallow depth of field meant I really had to stick to where I wanted to focus, and to make it all worse I did it all hand held with my model also having to stay very still under the time constraint. Being so close in proximity to her exaggerates any movement back and forth which actually led to my own heart beat taking me in and out of focus. With all these factors in play I adjusted my focus almost totally to the minimum and used my own swaying back and forth motion to change the distance until what I wanted sharp was in focus. Before the 15 minute shot clock was up I knew I had some of my favorite images I’ve ever shot for this client and a set that would be very hard to choose a key image from. In the end I pulled this one because even though it’s a beauty make up shot, there’s still a creepiness to it and yet this odd fantasy energy about the frame as well.
About Seth Miranda:
Seth Miranda’s career in photography has been as unique as his images. Having publications under his belt at age 15, he sculpted his lighting technique day and night in the fast-action world of BMX and skateboarding. With experience running the spectrum of all formats of film, experimental/older forgotten processes all the way to today’s digital medium, his versatile style has been featured in DigBMX, RideBMX, Juxtapoz, MakeUp Artist magainze and Transworld media publications as well as billboard and print ads for agencies like Deustch. He has assisted legend photographers like Joe McNally on set and also been featured in galleries covering subjects such as punk and alternative lifestyles.
Seth has brought his skill set and experience to the studio to masterfully capture every vision and concept thrown at his lens by the Special Effects MakeUp artists in attendance having worked for MUD MakeUp Designory, MakeUp For Ever, MakeUp Artist Magazine, IMATS, and many more facets of the industry. In his quest for mastery, Seth has also pushed his cinema still style docudrama images outside the realm of photography and into other mediums as stenciling, resin cast, and screen printing. With an endless drive to push, create and collaborate it’s safe to say his evolution of work has yet to reach its limit
