Health & Safety Implications of Urban Exploration.

As photographers, we sometimes face more and more experimental (and therefore dangerous) shoots. An example of this for me was the time a few weeks ago when I visited Rogue Studios on Chapeltown Street near Piccadilly Basin in Manchester's City Centre, with my friend, the local artist, David Lowther. The site is formerly a disused mill, now rented to artists as studios. Tapping into the craze for urban decay and exploration, I shot some pretty decent images there, which can be seen below along with some I did a while back on an old train site in Oswestry, Shropshire. I hope these also give an idea of the obvious Health and Safety implications present in this form of photography.

f5.6, 1/80th, ISO400, 24mm.
All kinds of nasty substances that could make for very itchy skin. I know this from personal experience: at one time I had an allergy to certain types of paper (Impetigo); often old books from old library stacks. The blue book to the right you see here is actually a copy of the Koran. The dust here could also be inhaled.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.
Dangers from old paint and decaying, brittle woodwork. Also, Asbestos can be presetn in any building built before 2000 (1). This is usually found in wall panelling in this case. Asbestosis is where the build-up of its spores can cause a scarring on lung tissue through breathing.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.
It was more the floorboards I was concerned about the most. From the moment I entered I knew this was going to be the case. Some of them were missing for a start. Obviously, one has to be mindful of losing one's footing.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.
Look to the bottom right of this picture. This is where the floorboards were missing. What a shot, though.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 18mm.

f5.6, 1/50th, ISO400, 24mm.

  It is somewhat ironic discussing Health and Safety in this kind of environment, due to the fact that we are not meant to be there in the first place. Indeed, I'm sure for some people this is the appeal.

Some of my past exploits shooting locations of decay (or: decaying locations. Whichever works best):

Watch this Space!!!!!!

1)  http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/hiddenkiller/where-is-it-found.htm

Health & Safety in Photographic Practice

As with any type of work, photography still has to follow the usual guidelines when it comes to keeping its practitioners and models safe. Below are just some of the key acts and guidelines that need to be adhered to to ensure safe practice. Obviously, we are mainly talking about digital photography here, but I may nod my head in the direction of analogue where I see fit.

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

*  All equipment used in the studio or on location should be fit for purpose (e.g. flash units, lights, modifiers etc) as detailed in any manuals or documentation that came with the item. It should also only be used for the purpose it is designed to fulfil.

*  Everyone using the equipment should have received the correct prompts on how to use it, including warnings on potential risks etc (for us, we were given a full day induction in H&S in the studio).

*  Should ensure dangerous loose parts of electrical equipment is kept safe at all times (i.e. the triggers for the flash heads).

*  All portable electrical appliances in and out of the studio should be PAT tested at least once a year (this also means any computers used for editing digital images).

*  The temperature of any room where electrical equipment should be kept at an optimum at all times. This may be difficult on location shoots, as camera and flash batteries are known to run down quicker in cold conditions.

Health & Safety at Work Act (1974)

  This is considered the main act covering primary health and safety in the UK, also includes a number of other acts and statutory instruments. In digital photography this mainly concerns itself with the computers/screens used to edit our images, not to mention all of the usual precautions and guidelines associated with office work and spending large amounts of time in front of a computer. For example:

*  All display screens would have to be non-flicker (Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992).

*  All lights in the rooms would need to be non-glare, so as not to reflect from the screen you sreen using.

*  All screens should be positioned at a 90 degree angle from windows and other light sources (1).

*  Walls painted in a neutral grey (preferably 18% grey) to prevent colour casts. Although I suppose this is more relevant the creative process.

*  It advised those using computer screens should look up from the screen at something else every 15 minutes to reduce the risk of eyestrain.

*  All chairs should be ergonomically sound, for "people weren't designed to sit at a computer all day" (2). Like display screen technology, this is to lessen the risk of back pain and fatigue.


Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) (2002) 

  Generally speaking, this aims to safeguard those using or coming into contact with any substances (dust, fumes, gases, liquids) that are potentially damaging to health. Some of these cause damage to the skin, whereas gases may cause respiratory problems etc. This is an aspect of Health and Safety that you would expect to find on any induction course for any job in the country.

  In terms of photography, we must mention analogue here (despite the fact this is largely a digital course), and how the dark room is full of such chemicals.  This means being mindful of the way the chemicals in the dark room are packaged and stored (NB: probably not the best idea to store dangerous chemicals in other bottles), paying particular attention to the signs and symbols their bottles are labelled with. Below are some of the most common of these that would be associated with dark room practices:

Dangerous to the environment 

Flammable

Toxic          

Corrosive

  It is not recommended to use one's hands when handling dark room chemicals, so either tongs or the use of latex gloves, aprons and eye protection (Personal Protective Equipment- PPE) is preferable, despite the fact all photographic chemicals these days are heavily diluted.

  The major suppliers of these chemicals are obliged to provide Safety Date Sheets (SDS) with all their chemicals, and these can be very helpful in detailing what they are made of should they need to presented to a member of staff at A&E in the event of an emergency. Ilford (supplier of chemicals and papers) also has detailed safety information on their website.

Risk Assessments

  As in all workplaces, all photographic practice is expected to undergo necessary risk assessments prior to any work being carried out. This can be as simple as asking models and subjects (at an event or in the studio) to sign model release forms as a means of the photographer safeguarding him/herself against those unhappy with where and how the images are used.

  During my Broughton House shoot for the Interior Location brief I was obliged by both the manager and the colonel to: 1)  have my tutor email them confirming who I was; 2) have my college ID on me at all times and 3) ask all residents and staff to sign a model release form prior to being photographed. After all, the home has strict guidelines on confidentially, being a social care provider.

  Of course, the main risks in photography are the more tangible risks in the studio and on location, such as trips, falls and electrical overload. For this reason, the risk assessment often comprises five main parts (as with in other industries): 1) Identifying hazards (something with a potential to cause harm); 2) Decide who may be harmed; 3) Evaluate Risks and decide on precautions (risk = likelihood of the hazard actually causing harm); 4) Record findings and implement them; 5) Review assessments and update if necessary. I will now take my Action Man studio brief as an example of this, due to the fact it was me who booked it, so it was me taking sole responsibility for my own safety.

1)  Hazards Identified:  
 Lots of wires in the same small space giving way to trips and falls or lights knocked over and bringing down the whole set-up; objects on the table likely to fall (boom arm of tripod liable to toppled onto table; possibly injuring body); using lights with too many amps for one socket; breakage of bulbs (trodden on, cuts from glass); touching hot bulbs and reflectors with bare hands; straining arms attaching heavy soft boxes; banging head on lights; low light in studio (difficult to see what I'm doing).

2)  Who might be harmed?
Me first of foremost. Other tutors/students popping in and out on the day, as well as those stepping on broken glass after this; my camera and college's equipment; Action Man himself (arf).

3)  Evaluation of risks and possible precautions:
Keep all wires in sight and tucked-away safely; make sure all electrical equipment and their wires are completely necessary; tighten any tripods and light stands to ensure they don't come loose and topple over; ensure backdrop items are all safe and self-contained within one space; not too many plugs daisy-chaining together (although I'm sure Dave Sweeney would have something to say about this on the day); turn lights down/off before changing attachments and/or use a piece of material to handle hot objects; turn on main lights for any important changes.

4)   Record Findings and Implement them:
I have just done this above.

5)  Review your assessment and update if necessary:
Obviously, if I was using the studio on a more regular basis, I would be able to carry-out an ongoing assessment of the risks involved. Suffice to say I have struggled with attaching soft boxes to flash heads and burnt my hands many times now.
  
 
  In the following post I will show some images from a shoot I did at Manchester's Rogue Studios, pointing out some of the dangers present in what was ostensibly a disused mill.

         








1)  http://www.crossbowcorporate.com/anti-glare-screens/
2)  http://www.weareworkwise.co.uk/dse-risk-assessment.php

Textured Portrait in Photoshop (Composite Images)

This was a worthwhile exercise, taking in the combined skills of studio lighting, knowledge of portraiture, identifying and photographing textures, and the tools picked-up to set me in good stead for producing a quality montage for Unit 27. For this reason, you might like to think of this post as an introduction to Unit 27. Below is the finished textured portrait, followed by an in-depth break-down of how I made it possible.

The Portrait

I chose Bezma as my model because of her captivating eyes and youthful look. I shot her in the studio, using two soft boxes at either side of my subject (see below for set-up). I was rather pleased to discovered at this point that my Metz AF 50 flashgun was able to trigger these two lights, meaning I did not have to attach the trigger. People were rushing me so they could shoot their own portraits, but this only brought out the best in me. Below is the image I chosen straight from camera without any editing followed by the one edited using Adobe Camera RAW and the main Photoshop.

f5.6, 1/60th, ISO100, 62mm, Auto White Balance, Spot Metering.

Increased exposure, lights, highlights and contrast in the main. These are the things I use most often in ACR,. I like the way Lights compliments the actual lights used in the studio. It is basically a fill-light. In CS6 I used the Spot Healing tool to remove any blemishes from Bezma's skin, before adding my usual Guassian Blur Filter with a black mask to soften her skin. The last thing I usually do is use the Sharpen tool to very subtly sharpen the eyes. Less is more.

Soon after taking the portrait I went out to look for appropriate textures I could layer over the top of it, carrying with me the sage advise of John Kiely: "make sure the colours of the textures are within the same colour space" (I paraphrase). Below are my chosen textures (which were basically given the Vibrancy and Highlights treatment in ACR, for they were shot RAW).

                    

In Photoshop, the first thing I did was ensure all the images that I wanted to blend together were the same size. For this reason I saved them all at 300dpi at full quality. In order to layer the images on top of one another in the simplest way possible, recorded the size of the portrait (3071 x 4608 pixels) and made sure my other pictures were the same size. I discovered this technique last summer when making some other collages for Level Two.

I knew I wanted the leaf with the water droplets on it as the main background, so stuck it on there and reduced the Opacity to 60%, which I know from previous experience is a nice level (below).

You can see that- once the leaf is layered onto the portrait- the face is covered. This is where the Eraser tool comes into play. I had to experiment quite a lot with this tool, for every time I layered a new image onto it, I had to erase parts of it to reveal the face again.

This shows the importance of reducing the opacity of the Eraser tool itself, lending me more scope. The eyes are quite evidently revealed here, but the 'blend' is too harsh. .

This is what I'm talking about: the transition where the eyes are is a lot more subtle, and on the road to becoming the finished product.

After the first leaf was in place, I added the second one, this time being more creative by using the Graduation tool to add more colour to the top left-hand corner. By selecting this tool and drawing a diagonal line from the top and working into the start of Bezma's head, I was able to then reduce the opacity, so it starts strong and becomes more subtle, so as not to interrupt the face the way the first leaf did (this stage below).

Doesn't look a great deal different with the Opacity lowered, but you may be able to nite more going on in the top left.

For the addition of the tree bark (whose brown fitted well with the different shades of green from the leaves), I rotated the image horizontally for a change, for I only wanted the part between the top of Bezma's head and the end of the canvas filling in slightly. I was able to do this by changing the arrangement of Photoshop's workspace to Float all in Windows (Window > Arrange > Float All in Windows), which I find absolutely essential when working with multiple images. Then I reduced the opacity again for this new layer.

This is how I came out with the finished image seen at the top of this post.

Studio Photography Brief: Final 3 still lives and Evaluation.

This post is dedicated to discussing how I made (and selected) my three remaining still life images for submission: flower, glass and jewellery.

Glass

Glass is said to be one of the most difficult things to photograph, and it is said that we are not actually aiming to photograph the glass itself, rather the reflections and the shadows that come from them, to ensure the actual glass stands out. We were shown a number of different techniques (and used a range of different media and props) during this session, but I opted for the simple blue glass bottle and green mottled glass paperweight set against a white background (below).

Camera Settings:  f11, 1/100th, ISO100, 62mm, WB: Flash.
Lighting: two soft boxes directed at subject from either side; one deep reflector underneath subject, at an angle pointing upwards; black card to either side of subjects.

I wasn't able to find an icon for the glass table. My Apologies.

I suppose this set-up is similar to the one for the Action Man 'still life', in that it has one very light aimed at the subject (in this case deep reflector under the glass table), along with two soft boxes. The main use of the soft-boxes here, however, was to provide a soft and even light to the glass from both sides with minimal reflections. Commercial product photographer, Alex Koloshov, suggests using a strip soft box to create a vertical catch-light as opposed to the square we see in my subjects (1). The use of any other modifier would be sure to render the edges and highlights too harsh, which is why the deep reflector is placed under the glass table, directing the light through the whole glass. The black reflectors either

As always, I opened the image in Adobe Camera Raw first to increase the Contrast, Lights and Highlights (keeping an eye on the 'clipping' of these), and also increased Shadows (to make the reflection on the table more prominent) and Darks (the texture of the mottled glass needed accentuating in my view). In Photoshop, I used two Brightness/Contrast layers with black masks (Alt + mask): one to ensure the white background was absolute white- painting in the bottles with a white brush so they wouldn't be too bright- and the other to accentuate the reflection of the bottles in the table. The last thing was convert the colour profile to DS Lustre, and brighten the image by +30, ensuring the correct brightness once printed. 

I did try other subjects/compositions before this one, but they just weren't strong enough. Below are just some of these.

The same subjects shot using a black background didn't have nearly the same effect. For one, the black highlights the dust on the table, and the image lacks the clinical feel.

This was one I began editing, before washing my hands of it and opting for the one I finally chose. It just goes to show you can come back to images and see them in a different light (pardon the pun), for I revisited it just now and finished editing it, darkening the background and revealing the edges of the bottle for definition with the use of a mask. The two soft boxes make for some brilliant catch-lights.

Flowers

  I've already shown some of Mapplethorpe's flowers, and the personality he managed to inject into them via his unique style. We also looked at Irving Penn's (1917-2009) work on the subject, whose work I was familiar with from Level One. Flowers are not something I'm naturally interested in, but once I noticed Penn's concentration on dead and decaying flora (in enlightening compositions), I knew the concept was something I could get my teeth into. I have included some examples below, along with my annotations as a way of 'segwaying' into my own choice.

Much like Mapplethorpe, Penn gave flowers their own unique personalities. Here three dead Gerberas huddle together like models, almost conscious of the process of photography they are subject to.

Again, the dying flowers are almost aware of their certain fate, as they face death, albeit still conscious and bashful as models in front of the lens. They are being subjected to something. Makes me think whether- in photography- there is more life in dead flowers than with those that are alive. In the words of the art critic Rosamund Bernier, Penn brought "poetry to immobility" (2)

One thing present in all the subjects in his seminal book on flowers is the lighting used. He was renowned for using minimal backgrounds, and for me this only serves to highlight the perfect blend of softness, definition and contrast as a way of evoking the splendour of a flower's texture.

  Texture was what I decided most interested me in our flower sessions. It was the texture of a rose I submitted (below), which was shot using one of the college's Medium Format cameras, the Mamiya RZ67 with a 17MP digital Leaf Valeo back, for extra clarity (perfect for highlighting the rose's texture).

Camera Settings:  f5.6, 1/125, ISO50
Lighting:  Light above subject (opposite camera) with barn-doors and honeycomb attached; beauty dish to left of camera to highlight flower; gold reflector to add warmth to the highlights (below).

The barn-doors ensures the light glances over the flower, highlighting its texture; the honeycomb diffuses said light,, preventing it from being too harsh.

It was the spiky death of this flower that so attracted me to it. Death has long been celebrated in art, and here I sought to highlight the beauty of it, reminding us that death is part of life. Looking at the print now, I notice an almost Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas) feel to it, the way the textured green of the main petal (accentuated by increasing Vibrancy and Saturation) seems to be stretching in animated fashion, covering its head to preserve its dignity. There could also be parallels drawn between this and William Blake's illustration that accompanies the poem 'The Sick Rose', included in his Songs of Experience (below). 

I certainly think there is a project in here somewhere:, which would involve layering (read: wrapping) Blake's text around my own rose in Photoshop. A possible contender for the Montage unit.

The only reservation I have about this image is that it is too bright, which I feel detracts the actual matte-like texture. Indeed, upon opening the TIFF in ACR, I noticed there was some clipping of the highlights, specifically in the upper red petal. I did attempt painting this away using the Adjustment Brush with a reduced exposure, but it looked too unnatural. I did take a few shots of this composition (below), but ended-up opting for the a brighter one.

This looks better on screen (more like Penn's lighting), but the main reason for upping the lights and highlights of the final (and lowering the shadows and dark points) was to ensure the print didn't come back dark. One day I'll get my screen calibrated. (This is edited by the way).

There were a few I did using a range of different compositions also, but way inferior to the final image (below).

The light seems to have picked-up the texture of the wood here more than the actual flower. The composition is dreadful too. It is pretty much just a dead flower. No poetry or sense of the aesthetic like the final one. Not edited.

Better composition here, but looking at a subject placed to the right of the frame makes me feel uneasy. And I feel the bud of the rose is too close to the camera. Still, at least its blossoming here.

I think I was finally getting somewhere here. A wider shot that includes the whole rose works a lot better. And the petals that have become detached from the stalk also make an extra focal point for the viewer. However, compared to my final one I think it lacks impact and drama. If the one above was too close, then this would be too far away, meaning we cannot engage with it as much.

The second part of our flower sessions were spent experimenting with different coloured gels, which were applied to the main key light (deep reflector) aimed directly at the flower in question. A lot of this stuff was done in the main studio space with my own camera and lenses. The set-up is pictures below.

Shooting table atop an ordinary table against a white backdrop; deep reflector with barn doors and honeycomb to my right; deep reflector with range of coloured gels (blue & green) applied; camera on tripod in centre.

Some of these came out quite well, if a little sparse and lacking in any objects to accompany the flower. Below are some of the ones I felt worthy of editing. Note how narrow the apertures I've used again (more about why this is in my Action Man still life post).

f20, 1/100th, ISO100, 75mm.
The subtle blue gel adds a nice tint to a red rose, possibly because we're dealing with the three main colours of the gamut in one image of an object of natural beauty (Red, Blue, Green). I opened this in ACR to bring out the contrast, shadows and darks (and also warmed the WB so the blue didn't dominate too much), but not much with lights and highlights due to the fact those within the inner petal were clipped to start with. I had the lights too bright. Still, nice image, just not good enough to submit.

f25, 1/100th, ISO100, 75mm.
The green gel doesn't work half as well as the blue gel because of the fact green is prominent in the subject to start with. Adding a blue to a green and red subject was a way of throwing a new colour into the range of colours, making them "gel" together (pardon pun). Way too green this. 

Jewellery

I wasn't exactly frothing at the mouth at the prospect of photographing pieces of jewellery. In fact it was my least favourite of all the still lives. Still, the aim of the unit is was to showcase a range of different media, so photograph jewellery I did. Below is my final choice, although I didn't have much to choose from.

Camera Settings:  f22, 1/160, ISO100, 60mm (on Nikon 60mm f1.8 macro lens). Spot Metering.
Lighting:  Honeycomb with barn doors from back (attached to backdrop); beauty dish from left of camera aimed 45 degrees at subject; gold reflector.    

Like the flower, the barn doors with honeycomb ensured a directional and diffused soft light from the back, whilst the beauty dish (along with its centre diffuser) gave a more prominent light to the subject, helping me to pick up the fine detail with the Nikon Macro lens. 

As with all still life set-ups, the background and any accompanying objects used in the shot were paramount. The first half of the session focussed on us going out into the great outdoors and collecting various bits and pieces that could would make the jewellery stand out. I was lucky enough to find a huge log, full of moss and countless amounts of interesting crevices and protruding bit. For extra interest I also chose some of the tree bark used by the college to decorate its tree-lined areas. This was all well and good, but my only criticism with this in my final shot was the similarity in colour of the log and the earrings I photographed. Below are some that gave a slightly better contrast between subject and background.

 

Note how the silver and stones stand out more against the brown log background.

Although the composition leaves a lot to be desired here, again the pendant stands out a lot more against the background. This was never going to be a final choice, mind, for the subject lacks the warmth of my chosen one. This is because I had not yet brought the gold reflector into the mix.

I think it may just have been the poor choice of subjects that turned me off this particular studio session. I mean it stands to reason that students are not going to leave their best jewellery at college for people to photograph. And so, just as a bad workman blames his tools, I am fully prepared to blame the shoddy subjects for what I deem uninteresting or garish images of jewellery (below). 

Too plain. Can tell its one of my first efforts. Don't think the breeze block does much for the subject either. A breeze block is more associated with 'urban chic' like a modern watch or something.

This is not as bad as I'm making out. If only the edge of the shooting table wasn't in the frame. I think warming the White Balance considerably in ACR does a lot for a jewellery image.

Wow! Where did this one spring from? I certainly hadn't noticed this when I was choosing one to print. Had I my time over again, I would have opted for this instead: there's a lot more going on (with the different shapes and textures), and the composition works on the 'rule of thirds' basis.

Overall, I feel I have learned lot from our studio sessions, but conversely I don't feel I have scratched the surface in things I wouldn't mind trying. I'd like to spend more time in the studio with a range of different subjects, making best use of different lighting techniques. I'd really like to push new ways of doing things, and try different combinations of lights. Its like cookery in this respect: its all well and good following the instructions to the letter, but at the end of the day, the best dishes succeed from bringing one's own flavours to the ingredients. Needless to say, these sessions have really whetted my appetite for more experimentation in the future. 




1) http://www.pixiq.com/article/product-photography-tipstricks-shooting-glass-on-black
2)  http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-me-irving-penn8-2009oct08,0,1536282.story?page=2

Studio Photography Brief: Final 3 portraits & Evaluation

The culmination of many weeks practising the photographing of various subjects, objects, models and textures etc in the studio, finally resulted in the submission of between 5 and 7 images, each encompassing one of the genres we had spent time practising. Due to how happy I was with the various portraits I had shot (and owing to a bout of amnesia in not being able to remember how I had shot some of my earlier still lives) I chose to submit three portraits, three still lives (glass, flower and jewellery) and the Action Man set-up that apparently counts as a still life in its own right. I will be discussing each of these in detail below, drawing attention to lighting and composition, equipment used and the thinking behind the particular mood I was after (NB: the Action Man shot has its own post dedicated to it).

  Since my previous post dealt with the work of Robert Mapplethorpe in its various thoughts, I thought it only right to start this post by discussing the portrait I produced of my classmate Noreen using what is apparently the Mapplethorpe style, of using two soft boxes either side of the camera directed at the model, a hair light (preferably with a honeycomb attached), and two black reflector boards at either side of the model. Below is the resulting image, but- as per my previous brief posts- I will do my best to detail how I got there by way of including previous images from the same shoot.

Camera Settings: f8, 1/100th, ISO100, 50mm.
Lighting: Two soft boxes either side of the camera, aimed at model; one head (with honeycomb attached) behind model at waist-height pointing up towards hair (hair light).

This is the shot straight from camera. 

Add caption

You see how that the camera is positioned between the two soft boxes, and the two black reflector boards are there but there is no hair light at this point, which is why I have included a diagram below.

Here we have everything: both soft boxes, both black boards and the strobe used as a hair light.

  You will see from the final image that Noreen's face very illuminated amongst the black background. This is because the soft boxes keep things light and soft on the model's face, and the black boards retain the light in the area where she is stood. It took a while to decide how bright I wanted the soft boxes, and how narrow my aperture, so I remembered two pieces of advice that I always carry with me into the studio: 1) start at f11 (this is what a portrait photographer advised me to do a while back, and I'm also told that most lenses work best between f8 and f11) and 2) don't turn the lights above 3. The last point was what I learned during the Action Man/Rex shoot, for at the time I had the lights too high and using apertures as narrow as f20/22. Also, wanted a degree of depth to the face.

In Camera Raw, I increased the exposure by a stop, along with increasing the contrast and the highlights a touch. I lessened the shadows to ensure the hair didn't get lost in the black of the background. 

In Photoshop CS6, I removed any rogue marks on Noreen's face using the Spot Healing tool first and foremost. I then duplicated the background layer, selected a Gaussian Blur filter (6.6) and applied a black mask to the layer, allowing me to use the white brush (opacity 25%) to brush the blur back into her face to soften the skin incrementally. This would compliment the use of soft light from the boxes. I then converted the image to Monochrome using a Black and White Adjustment layer and adjusting the colour channels. However, after John Kiely's session on B&W on conversion, I returned to the Photoshop Document prior to printing to use Channels to highlight only the Red channel (for this is well-known to make female skin appear softer) and added re-added the B&W adjustment layer. I then reduced the shadows some more using Image>Adjustments>Shadows and Highlights, and increased the Brightness to +30 to ensure the print wouldn't come out too dark, as it has in the past. 

Earlier examples from the shoot

The early examples were using f11 without the hair light at the back, for I wasn't aware this was part of the Mapplethorpe set-up at this point. I started by using Mina as a model. Although work I do in ACR makes a hell of a difference (sometimes to the point of rescuing images), the hair had no real light or definition without use of a hair light (1). I then brought the hair light in, tilting down from above Mina's head, but I felt the light was too pronounced (2). Finally I placed the it right behind her head (obviously out of frame) to illuminate her head from the background, and this seemed to work a lot better (3). All three of these examples are below (ignore the compositions and expressions).

  

1

2

3

I repeated this technique with Noreen, but increased the aperture to f8 and brightened both soft-boxes by half a stop. If I remember correctly, the hair light would been a stop lower than the boxes. Below are the the first couple of Noreen with the hair light directly behind her head, but- with her being dressed in complete black (the thing that helped the image finally, I may add), as well as having jet black hair, it did nothing to pull her head away from the background.

  The next two portraits were shot using exactly the same lighting arrangement as one another. Let's take a look at them now:

Camera Settings:  f11, 1/100th, ISO100, 50mm.
Lighting:  Beauty dish (left of camera) directed at model; soft box to model's right (one stop lower than BD); black reflector to her left; black background.

Camera Settings:  f11, 1/100th, ISO100, 50mm.
Lighting: As above (model seated; lights lowered)- see below

  These two are not a million miles away from the Mapplethorpe style, but I knew the beauty dish aimed directly at the model would make for a crisper, more prominent light on the face, as opposed to the ultra-soft effects of the two soft boxes. However, I used a soft box to the right of the subject just to soften the harshness of the light (see 'Introduction to Studio Lighting') and ensure one side of the model's face was lighter than the other. Needless to say the black reflector helped a lot here, as it did in the shot of Noreen.

  The shot of Anita is one of the best portraits I have ever made. I shot a few of her during the session, but in many she was looking right at the camera. It was only until I started getting a lot more creative and confident in directing her that tried something different. Below are some of the ones I didn't opt for. In this instance, I am still very fond of them, but it was a matter of the final one or two eclipsing what had one before. 

Too smiley, but still a good, friendly shot.

Either look at the camera and smile or look mysteriously away from it. Never the twain. My opinion.

Nice, but the fact she look likes she's about to speak ruins it.

Other than the one I submitted, this was the only other I'd have chosen. She looks placid and relaxed, and the portrait benefits from her looking away.
Reason not for choosing: It lacks the majesty/sense of the regal of the other.

  
From the same session I also shot quite a few of Andrea, but I just didn't it anything fit with the other three models (below).

It may be an ethnicity thing. In my final choices I feel I have represented three women with different heritages, and I think the monochrome conversion only serves to highlight the skin tones of each. This adds another dimension to what I feel quite comfortable in calling a series: Anita the African Queen in all her majesty; Mina looking sophisticated and serious and Noreen looking mature and dominant, her face aglow by the way I shot/edited her. As good a portrait it is of Andrea, as relaxed as she looks, something didn't quite work for me when I put them all side-by-side.