With Silvia at Monte dei Cappuccini

Last week, I had a photo session with an old school mate, Silvia. I had not seen her for quite a few years now, so it was first of all a real pleasure to meet her again.
I decided to go again to the Monte dei Cappuccini. This is a very nice location on the hill over Torino.
At sunset time, this place is really perfect, as you have the sun setting just in front of you, with the city below.
We immediately climbed up the hill and reached the place in perfect time: sun was already getting low on the horizon, with a nice golden light, and the few clouds on the mountain were giving that mystic touch to the sky which looks perfect for a portrait background.
I set up my one-flash equipement while Silvia was getting confortable with the fact that, at that time, the place was not really empty as she might have wished.

As my set up was ready, we started shooting.
I wanted to profit from the still quite bright sunlight to give her that golden rim light which can really turn on a portrait.
Unfortunately, because of my still too little experience, I didn't pay much attention to the background, at the beginning. The place is surrounded by trees, and having them behind the model in these shots was not really a nice idea.

Silvia immediately found herself comfortable with shooting, and gave some very sweet expressions. The sun behind at 45 degrees camera left, and the shoot through white umbrella with the 580EX II at 45 degree in front of her, also camera left, added even more mood to her eyes. The trees in the background aren't really nice, I know, but the photo is nevertheless quite nice.

I also wanted to try a shot with the sun directly behind her.

The flash is again positioned at about 45 degrees on camera left, which gives the shot an almost "natural" light, with a lovely golden touch on her skin given by the sun itself.

Letting her holding on the balcony created by the brick wall, which looks on the city, gave me then a perfect pose for a more close up portrait.

The flash is again on camera left, in the white umbrella, but this time her face is more evenly lit up, with the sun which hits her skin on the left side.

The city from the high is such a nice background for some shots. Overall the Mole, which always inspires me a lot.

I decided to use the still quite strong available light to take a portait of Silvia with the Mole behind. The flash is again on camera left, with the white umbrella making it softer. I liked a lot this setup, as you can see, because it gives more the idea of the natural sun light (an effect that would have been lost by putting the light source at camera right, crossing the sun).

Finaly, it was time for a close up portait.

The flash on the left was a bit too low, giving an odd shadow of her nose on the face. Apart from this, I find this shot to be very nice, and this is also the reason why I choosed it as a conclusion for this post.

I hope you enjoyed this set as much as I enjoyed shooting.
Feel free to C&C my photos either here or on flickr.