*Euryale*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Mathilde
Texture: Himanthalia elongata (?)
Lately I’ve been trying double exposures with seaside textures and while most of them were not very successful, the one that worked really well was the one I least expected: these dark seaside algae were so dark that I exposed them at nominal instead of underexposing like I normally do, and they turned out a lot more contrasty than expected. Gives Mathilde a kind of « snakes in the hair » look…
*Weed Bath*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Mathilde
Texture: Wollfia arrhiza
When I shot these tiny weeds at the surface of a pond, I honestly didn’t think they would work as a texture. But while the leaves may be too small for any recognizable features, they create a pointillist effect that disaggregates Mathilde’s silhouette in a really convincing way.
*Flowers in mind*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Mathilde
This is another example of what I call « small » textures working really well. The accumulation effect, the fact that the detail is minute really contributes to a particular effect that I find compelling.
*Back in winter*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Mathilde
In Hong Kong I had very limited access to bare branches. Due to the sub-tropical climate, even in December / January, very few trees lost their leaves entirely. I was quite please therefore to be able to shoot forlorn, leafless branches here in France, which work so well as quasi-tattoos on branches.
*Imperial Camouflage*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Mathilde
Texture: Begonia imperialis
When I first walked around the Nantes botanical garden, I entered the tropical greenhouse and stumbled upon this leaf which I’d never seen before. Hugely contrasted and quite wild. I knew it would work fantastically on a silhouette double exposure, and our studio session with Mathilde proved me right. I’ll definitely be revisiting this one.
*Clothed in Schefflera*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Dylan
Texture: Schefflera arboricola
From the start my goal with Photosynthesis was to shoot both female and male models. But while visual reference for female nude is plentiful, for male nudes it’s not, and I have struggled to find varied effective poses with male models. While this one of Dylan is simple, I feel like it works and I’m quite pleased I seem to be getting somewhere.
*Crisscross*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: M.
I have grown to really like those herbs or weeds with tiny straight leaves. They work as a kind of hashed texture on the body in a way I find really compelling…
*Leaf Necklace*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: M.
When I’m framing the second exposure for this « inverted treetop » technique, I tend to fame wide so that the inversion tapers the bottom of the silhouette. Occasionally though I’ve made shots where the face is the key feature and… I should probably do more!
*Flowery Stars*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: Corentin
The effective of these textured profiles is a very subtle, fickle thing and I can’t pretend to have completely mastered the different parameters. But when they work, I find them quite spectacular, as is the case here with my son as a model.
*All my love’s in veins*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford FP4+
Model: M.
Ever since I purchased a macro lens for the Canon, I’ve been meaning to do a really deep dive into the veins on some large leaves to capture these wonderful textures. I’ve found it to be more challenging than I initially thought, because the leaves move in the wind and since I shoot on situ, I don’t have as much control on the lighting either. But it can work and this image, while the texture is still a bit more subdued than I would like, proves it!
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