When I first moved to Melbourne a few years ago, find a beautiful yoga space was a very difficult task. Although yoga has been practiced in Australia for years, it hadn’t yet reached the audience that appreciates, and will pay for a premium space.
I’ve seen an explosion of incredibly designed spaces lately, and one of the best is Light Space Yoga founded by Susan and Clare. Large expansive windows let in an incredible amount of beautiful light and that’s something that I, as a photographer, appreciate.
Windows go across the entire wall of both studios, allowing incredible natural light to come in. 1/500 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400 – Profoto B1 with and Elinchrome Octa behind Tayla and on camera right.
So the challenge I gave myself was how can I augment the already beautiful light to give this yoga shoot a commercial look.
The Intention
This shoot was primarily aimed to test the new Profoto HSS system to see how it might impact my yoga photography. I had Tayla on hand once again to help by being my model.
In both of the images above, I placed my Profoto B1 behind Tayla and to camera right. It was fitted with a 175cm Elinchrom Rotalux Octabank and used to create a subtle rim light. Here’s a behind the scenes image of the set up:
Collaborating with Tayla to get the shot. Image by Fatima.
Second Set Up
A second set up I did was to pump in a bit of extra light from in front of Tayla to even out the lighting. I moved the lighting set up to camera left near the window, this time in front of Tayla. Notice that the rim light is gone, but the light on Tayla’s face and neck is more even.
Tayla getting ready for Hanumanasana. 1/500 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400 – Profoto B1 with Elinchrom Octa in front of Tayla on camera left.
There is no way I can do this pose…
In this image you can really see how the extra light has evened out the light on Tayla’s face and neck. 1/500 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400 – Profoto B1 with Elinchrom Octa in front of Tayla on camera left.
1/500 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400 – Profoto B1 with Elinchrom Octa in front of Tayla on camera left.
Here’s what that set up looked like:
Behind the scenes image of the second set up. Image courtesy of Fatima.
In and indoor situation like this, I can do the work unassisted as I don’t have to worry about the wind blowing the lighting stand over.
Conclusion
I was happy with how the images worked out. I felt that I was able to add a level of production value without having the images look fake.
Of course adding light isn’t necessary for every shoot, but it’s good to practice so that you know you have the skills when you need them. The lighting was so beautiful that I only needed to tone the images, no further retouching required.
I really had a great day shooting with Tayla and it was great to have Fatima on set to capture some behind the scenes images. It was a team effort!
Adding a bit of fun and showing Tayla my upward dog. Image by Fatima.
Thanks to Light Space Yoga
I’m very grateful that Clare and Susan let us use their beautiful Balwyn studio for the shoot. An incredible location like this makes a huge different.
They’ve recently opened up a new studio in Mitcham, so if you’re around that area, you should check it out!
MK
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