Photographer Ken Kiefer breathes life into superhero cosplay in this gravity-defying super hero shoot taken inside a swimming pool.
The photo shoot, Affaire de Coeur, came together after Kiefer discovered his comic book fan friend, Alex, owned a Spider-Man costume designed and created to get wet. Alex donned the suit and entered the pool with his girlfriend, portraying Black Cat, to reenact comic accurate poses while submerged beneath the water.
The images were taken using a Canon 5Ds with a wide angle 16-35mm f4 L rectilinear lens at f5.6-f18 (depending on sun location), ISO 100, and 1/160-1/200 s. The entire kit was encased inside a Ikelite underwater housing and 8 inch Ikelite dome.
Kiefer says that he decided to conduct the shoot on a sunny day in order to make the costumes shine, he also used two DS161 strobes on full power to even out the natural lighting within the outdoor pool.
The underwater photographer credits his models for pulling off the super hero poses with seemingly effortless ease, “Trying to convey the facial expressions and body positions needed without appearing strained or tense takes a high level of comfort.”
In this instance, the lycra body suit Alex wore would become near impermeable when submerged and he “would have to inhale with maximum effort every single time that he emerged from the water to draw tiny amounts of air through the material.” A herculean achievement given the shoot took seven hours over the span of the day to complete.
Kiefer is an award-winning underwater photographer with many fashion, fitness and scuba-diving shoots under his belt. For more undersea adventures be sure to visit his website and Instagram here.
Images used with permission
DigitalRev 