This is a shooting tutorial that was submitted by Marcus Wong in the SLR Lounge Forum.

The mood and ambience in this image is terrific! Ronnie did a great job in conveying his vision of this woman’s life being wasted in smoking and alcohol. The model’s pose, the shaping of the light around her, and the texture in the environment all help to enhance the grittiness of this image.

My one critique would be the hard-edged light- to-shadow transition on the lower side of the light shaft on the wall. A more even and organic blending would hide the fact that the light was retouched. Other than that, great job Ronnie!

The idea to behind this shot (Title: Wasted) is to portray a young lady who wasted her life in heavy smoking and alcoholism. Therefore, I prepped the scene with 2 empty wine bottles and a pack of cigarette to carry the idea of the title. The location I chose was a back street with very little ambient light.

Camera: Canon 5D mark III
Lens: Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 L USM
Flash: Canon 580EXII speedlight
Focal length: 32 mm
Shuttle speed: 1/200
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100