The Story Behind the Photo

January 2024: Black and White

Jim Higgins

This photo was shot with the club assignment of Black and White in mind. I wanted to do a silhouette with a ying-yang feel.

First I set up a white background and lit it with 2 Godox AD200 flashes with small reflectors - one on each side of the background to light it evenly. Their power was adjusted to give a true white without a large amount of blow back onto the subject. The in-camera histogram was used to help with the control.

Second the amount of light on the model’s face was controlled by how far she was from the background. The closer to the background, the more light is reflected onto the model.

Third the ying-yang effect was just not working so I added the watch to give the picture a center of interest. The watch was lit with the area illuminated very restricted.