Miguel Vallinas of Ad and Industrial Photographer began thinking of ways to capture different sides of human nature after finishing Skins, his series featuring people dressed for work attire. While hanging out with his dog Leo one afternoon, Vallinas came up with an idea to depict Leo as human by juxtaposing him against an image of himself from Skins; thus giving rise to Second Skins series.
“My inspiration came from asking ‘If you were a rabbit, what would you wear and pose like?’.” After 40 or so composites had been created he had created personalities ranging from average pigeons to exotic beasts.
Vallinas began photographing animal subjects both live and taxidermied from farms and private collectors as well as taxidermy from private collections or the University of Vallodalid. Once these pictures had been taken on location, he would return to his studio and choose an outfit suitable for each creature, taking photographs either of his wife Leticia or an acquaintance wearing it, before compositeding both images together into one picture.
For an accurate composite, all technical details of both photos needed to match, which took considerable trial-and-error. He photographed both animals and humans using his Canon EOS 5D with 24-105mm f/4L Canon EF lens; outdoors they used sunlight while indoors a single side light/reflector were used to soften shadows when photographing taxidermied subjects.
Vallinas kept the lighting simple in his studio, employing only one strobe and reflector for illumination. However, positioning both items was more challenging; oftentimes he would refer back to an animal photo for reference when positioning these components along with his tripod-mounted camera. “Finding the angle and distance is always the hardest part!” according to him – initially by setting correct tripod height, then by positioning equipment. To ensure seamless photos with natural poses that suited their animal counterparts.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 allowed the photographer to perform extensive retouching work on his photo, such as aligning animal and neckline elements. “Replicating shadows between clothing and animal skin is the most delicate step,” according to Vallinas.
He was thrilled with the results: “This device reveals possible personalities not available to humans.
Miguel Vallinas of Medina del Campo, Spain can be seen online at MiguelVallinas.com to view more work.
