This time I tried a nun-style styling. Accompanied by this set of photos taken with the Ricoh camera, the overall high-key backlit atmosphere really surprised me. Ricoh's color rendition has always been very special; this time, to match the black-and-white nun outfit, I specially selected this modern building with a geometric grid dome as the background. The large area of grayish-white tones combined with the strong light penetrating from the left formed a very soft backlit halo, giving the picture an ethereal texture.
In terms of clothing, this black vintage waist-cinching long dress is well-tailored, and the flared skirt design of the hem photographs exceptionally well when turning around or when there is wind. The wide white headband and the spliced white lace on the cuffs are the finishing touch, breaking the dullness of the all-black look and making the classic black-and-white contrast more vivid. To match this outfit, I specially wore an extremely long black hair wig with blunt bangs. During the shoot, a fan was used to blow the hair, capturing the moment of flying hair strands, bringing out the dynamic-static combined visual tension. Wigs usually need to be kept smooth, especially long straight black hair, where even a tiny bit of frizz is very obvious under backlighting, so be sure to spray care solution and comb it through thoroughly before shooting.
Regarding movement and emotional expression, this setting is not the conventional praying posture, but rather slightly raising the chin, eyes half-closed, and hands softly intertwined in front of the face. This requires the body to be relaxed, with fingers bent lightly and not appearing rigid. Matching the lines of the architectural background, the figure's posture also needs a slight sense of upward extension. Under strong light, turning the face slightly allows the facial contours to become clearer in the backlighting, while also making the character's expression look more serene and immersed.
Actually, shooting in public architecture tests your utilization of ambient light the most. Ricoh's dynamic range is very high; recovering some shadow details in places with high contrast can preserve the texture of the skirt. When shooting backlit, be sure to place the metering point on the dark part of the character's face or use spot metering aimed at the skin, otherwise it is very easy to shoot a silhouette. Using a reflector to fill in face light, or brightening the shadows in post-processing, can solve this problem very well. The geometric lines of the background are very rigid, so the character's posture and the softness of the skirt hem form a strong contrast.
The post-processing direction for this set of photos is mainly towards cool tones and high brightness, reducing contrast and making the highlights slightly bloom, thereby creating that hazy atmosphere. The texture of the wig will also appear more translucent under backlighting. The overall shooting and post-processing ideas are trying their best to match the quiet, mysterious, and somewhat sacred temperament of a nun.