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Comments are appreciated.

Absolutely different and unique...The lighting is fantastic and the idea is totally original.

Man, if you are going to eat sushi, at least clean the fish and cut it up into small pieces! I wonder how long before she gagged and had to spit it out! :-)

 

This is most definitely a unique perspective on portraiture, but very well executed. The highlights on her forhead, left cheek and right shoulder are a little blown and could be darkened just a tad.

Geez, blondes. You're supposed to swallow GOLDFISH, not FLOUNDER.

Any chance of you tell us how did you light this one? for me looks like a bare flash camera right and another at left behind you, something soft above your head...just guessing...

Original idea and good light!

Fabiano, it looks to me like a 4 light setup. One for the background, two kickers off to both sides and slightly behind the model to "rim light" her and a single strobe in a softbox overhead and apparently slightly to the model's right given the direction of the shadows, producing "butterfly" lighting. The tell-tale shadow under the nose for "butterfly" or "glamour" lighting is clearly visible. I don't believe any reflector was used below her as there is no softening of the shadows on the left side her chest and those cast by the fish.

Scott, I never worked in studio so I imagine that you only use flash on background for create gradients, for me the key light above her head was enough for light the background. I agree with reflector, specially because I see no catch lights on eyes (Or maybe Anna had retouch them?)

Fabiano, if she is relatively close to the background, a background light may not be necessary depending on what you want to do with it. Or you can intentionally not light it if it were white, so it would fall to a shade of gray. The further away it is, the darker it will get due to the inverse square law. I have done this sometimes because the only gray seamless background paper I have is reasonably light and I do not use it all that often, so lighting, or the lack thereof, can change it's value pretty significantly.

 

Lighting the background is useful for several things. One, if it is a large background, as in the case of a full length bridal portrait, so the background is evenly lit. Or you can blow it out about 2 stops above the base exposure with two lights to do a high-key kind of portrait. Or you can use a single light in either a snoot or barn doors (like I do) to light only an isolated area behind the subject to highligh them or add interest to the photo.