Cookbook: by Christian Lalonde
Limelight!

This image was shot as a personal project a few years ago. Here’s how I came up with the idea: I’m a big fan of Corona beer. This photo was shot in studio with two Bowen 600 strobes and a white cardboard reflector. I shot it against a black velvet backdrop in order to get a clean pure black. My main light had a 2x3-foot softbox, positioned over and to the left of my subject. I wanted to make sure to retain the highlight on the bottle all the way through. My reflector is positioned parallel to the bottle and directly underneath. I added a kicker, a Bowens 600 with grid, coming from the back right to give some separation and highlights.

I took the shot with a Linhof 4x5 view camera with a 210mm Rodenstock lens and Kodak E100 film at 1⁄500 at f/8. I mounted the bottle on a studio stand and removed the bottom of the bottle in order to continually run beer through it. The iguana was placed on the bottle and held in place with Crazy Glue (just kidding… gravity did the job). I was simply very patient and had a container with padding positioned underneath in case the lizard fell, and believe me it did. It took approximately three hours between refills and the model falling off to get 10 sheets exposed. No digital was used in post-production, everything was done in the camera. Although eventually I might rework the liquid to make it transform into the lime.

INGREDIENTS
• Camera: Linhof 4x5 view camera
• Lens: 210mm Rodenstock
• Lighting: 2 Bowens 600s; one with 30° grid, one with 2x3-foot softbox
• Film: Kodak E100
• Exposure: 1⁄500 at f/8
• Background: Black velvet
• Reflector: White reflector 12x24 inches
• Other: Feeding tube and bottle