Light it up in Goa!!

Shooting for IBIS Goa.

So the day we arrived at Goa, it was dull and overcast. Shooting in monsoons isn't the most ideal scenario. But if you are one to look at the bright side of things, you will realize that you don't have to worry about taming harsh highlights out of pictures. Am I right?

Shooting in monsoons isn't the most ideal scenario

So the day we arrived at Goa, it was dull and overcast. Shooting in monsoons isn't the most ideal scenario. But if you are one to look at the bright side of things, you will realize that you don't have to worry about taming harsh highlights out of pictures. Am I right?

Here is another view of the room

As you can see, all the light is streaming in from the opposite side of the camera which does not help much with the lighting ratios. And let's be honest - the quality of the light isn't the most inspiring for a holiday destination.

So we stuck a trusty Elinchrom 400 watt light outside the balcony firing in with a bowl as a modifier. You can see a bit of the

light peeking in at the top left corner of the

window. Ideally, I would have liked a fill light

in the room but the wall to the left of the bed

was acting as a huge reflector, taming the

shadows nicely. If you have been following

my work previously, you may have noticed

that I am a huge fan of hard dappled light. So, obviously, I really liked the effect of the light in this image. Here's the trick - Hard, contrasting shadows add character to a room. Throw in a bit of Photoshop to tweak the outside, add a mild white balance correction to get that nice warm glow - and voila! Happy, cheerful holiday destination!

Tech : Nikon D800E + Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED

Questions / Comments? Please feel free to post in the comments below or email me at damerlasudhir@gmail.com.

Cheers, Sudhir