"Something magical": the story behind these ethereal body painting shots, taken on a Canon EOS R

Antonio Gibotta is an award-winning photojournalist whose projects include documenting the lives of migrants, religious pilgrims and gaming addicts. However, his latest photographs are far removed from his other work. "I forced myself to think of something new," he says, "a different project, a unique one." The result was a striking and colourful series of images of models covered with fluorescent body paint, photographed under UV light.

Day to day, the former Canon Ambassador runs a wedding photography business in Naples, Italy, in partnership with his father Ciro. However, for a number of years, Antonio has combined this wedding work with self-financing his own documentary projects. They have brought him international recognition as well as awards including a World Press Photo Award in 2017.

Antonio's new work was inspired by two of his earlier photojournalistic projects. One was a series of images of the Holi festival, an annual three-day Hindu celebration in which participants throw brightly-coloured powders over each other to symbolise the end of winter and the victory of good over evil. The other inspiration was Flour War, Antonio's series on the 200-year-old festival that takes place in Alicante, Spain, where people are split into two groups and do battle with flour, water, eggs and coloured smoke.

Working with the EOS R

Antonio took all of the images with a full-frame mirrorless Canon EOS R and Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM lens. "I wanted to put the camera to the test in weak light conditions, using very high ISO," he says. "The RF 50mm F1.2L USM lens is fantastic – it's very quick and its performance is insane. This combination of camera and lens has an amazing kind of bond that is almost chemistry."

He used the Canon EOS R's vari-angle touchscreen to shoot from different angles and was able to use it to focus quickly and accurately on specific parts of the models' face or body.

As well as using the EOS R on his body painting shoot, Antonio has also taken wedding images with it. He says some of the camera's other features have also had positive benefits for his wedding work.

"I have pushed the camera to its limits, to ISO 40,000, to take photos during a wedding," he says. "Personally I happily include pictures [in my selection] even if there is a lot of noise – as long as they have soul, and tell the story of an exciting moment, a magical memory that will last in time."

Antonio especially likes capturing the wedding reception dinner as it unfolds from a distance, using his go-to Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. He is able to pair it with the Canon EOS R using one of the EOS R System's range of specially-developed EF-EOS R mount adapters.

He says, "Before using the EOS R I used to use the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with a flash close to the scene using transmitters. But in doing so, most of the time I was seen by the bride and groom, who would subconsciously change facial expression. Now I can use very high ISO speeds to take exciting, intimate 'sneak peeks' without having to get close to the subjects.

"Another very interesting feature of the EOS R is its absolute silence, as it is fundamental for me to be as invisible as possible at a wedding."

Pictures worth printing

In the body painting shoot, the final stage after post-processing was to output the images as prints. He selected the strongest images and printed them using a Canon ImagePROGRAF PRO-2000 large format printer, at sizes up to an astonishing 60x90cm.

"It has an incredible printing performance and I've found it to be very economical in its use of ink," Antonio says. The resulting prints of the body painting images replicate the vivid colours used by the artist as well as the deep blacks he created with his sparing use of light.

Looking back on these images, Antonio says the Canon EOS R's innovative features were part of the inspiration behind them. "My intention was to create something for this new technology, this new era," he says. "I tried from the first moment to create something that remained imprinted in people's minds, something magical – between reality and science fiction – and I think these images fully represent my idea."