My particular favourite image of his to date is River Nymph shown above. The image features a nude model gazing intently across the rippling river before her. The majority of Green's earlier work, including this particular piece, is shot in his own personal studio. He strategically places props to build textures, scenes and atmospheres within his work.
River Nymph incorporates jewel toned blue, silk sheets to mimic the movement and apperance of water. Green drapes black lace and sheer fabrics to create depth and delicacy within the composition. Fake flowers are placed within the scene to convey the idea of a natural environment whilst still maintaining and the unearthly, ethereal nature of the subject.
A nude model is used to portray innocence and delicacy. The flower crown that nymph is wearing and the placement of her hair allows the nudity to be more tasteful and conveys the innocence of her character.
What I particularly like about this image is the way Green uses lighting to create a mythical, turquoise glow to the scene. It is particularly effective as not only does it set the mood and atmosphere of the enivornment, but it also makes the nymph's skin appear to be almost ghostly and celestial.
Above I have drawn how I think the lighting may have been set up. I believe the key light would appear from the left of the image (directly facing the nymph) as this appears to be where most of the lighting is coming from. This is evident with the intense highlights on the model's face, body and on the tops of the silk sheets (illustrated with light blue pen). The highlights on the nymph are the most intense within the image and may have been created with a reflector (a silver one in order to keep the cool temperature).
A possible fill light is placed at the bottom of the image, flooding light onto the the silk sheets at the bottom of the image. This creates the impression of ripples in the water. There are also highlights rippling up towards the nymph. From the rippling patterns cast upon the scene, I believe some material such as lace has been placed in front of the light to distort it.
I think coloured filters have also been placed over the light to give them a blue tinge.
A back light could have been placed to create the rippling effect of the sky. It would have had to been placed at a fair distance away from the backdrop to create the varying intensity of light. Again, I think some method of distortion has been used to create motion blurs or perhaps this is something that has been done post production.
I have contacted Andy Green to interview him for part 2 of this terms assignment. I'd enjoy asking him about some of the lighting techniques he used and will endeavor to ask him such questions.
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