Life of a Showgirl: Behind the Scenes

Tay-Tay's tease of her upcoming album "Life of a Showgirl" inspired me to put on some sequins and take some creative self-portraits. When creative bursts of energy come knocking at 9pm on a Sunday, you gotta answer...

I've included the full series of my favorite shots in my portfolio, but wanted to also share the behind-the-scenes! It's definitely do-able (albeit there might be some squeezing & ducking to get into your space!) to create fun portraits and art in small rooms. To create this series, I used the following:

Sony A7RV & Sony 24-70mm f 2.8 lens

Bento Tripod

Flashpoint Zoom Li-on X R2 TTL On-Camera Round Flash Speedlight For Sony (Godox V1)*

*on-camera

Flashpoint Round Head Accessory Kit (I used the barn doors + grid)

2 V-Flats (black for background behind me, white to bounce flash positioned out of camera on viewer's left)

Prism LensFX "Moody" starburst filter 77mm*

*threaded on-lens

Silver reflector - propped up by my desk light & monitor arms (LOL)

My desk chair

I used the 10-second 5 image self-timer setting with my flash on TTL. Initially I started off bouncing the flash off the ceiling and then tried bouncing it off the white side of the V-flat, but ultimately found that direct flash with the grid and barn doors created more of the "paparazzi"/"showgirl" look I was trying to achieve.

Here's a picture of my partially finished set-up (second V-flat and reflector taken down for the photo):

Pretty simple! But the results are stunning and you honestly would never have known I shot these right in my office with my pup Libby snoring away under my desk, haha.

The "Moody" filter by Prism LensFX really pairs well with sequin/bedazzled outfits and props. The "cigarette" prop I used was bedazzled, so it caught the flash and refracted gorgeous starbursts. If you look closely enough, you can even see the starbursts refracted in my pupils, so cool.

The "Life of a Showgirl" series is posted on my website and IG - thank you for reading and I'd love to know what you think!