Model Shoot - Tasha

As promised here are some photos from a shoot I did a few weeks ago with Tasha. Hair and makeup were done by Cerise. For this shoot I used the ring light extensively. One thing I found was that it worked great in really tight spaces. For the one picture below of Tasha sitting on the old school cash register, that was done in a space that was literally no bigger than what you see in the frame. There is probably only half a foot on either side until it meets the walls. So where you might not be able to fit a soft box or even a small shoot through umbrella without blocking your shooting angles you can use a ring light quite effectively. For the shot above I purposely left an edge of the ring light visible so you can see what shooting with a 10mm wide angle lens does and how much light coverage you can actually get from just one ring flash. The ring light look is very popular these days in magazines and it has its place. I still enjoy being creative with lighting though and the challenge of blending shadows and light to create a certain mood and ambiance in a shot is going to be around long after the fad of the ring light fades away.

Model Shoot - Jillian

Last weekend I had the pleasure of working with agency model Jillian on this shoot. The hair and makeup was by Cerise. I have been wanting to try some different lighting techniques and one that I've been very curious about was using a ring light. A ring light offers a very unique look. It casts a very even illumination and the shadows it creates are like an even halo around the subject. There is also the characteristic catch light in the eyes. You see this look a lot in print ad and magazines like Maxim. I purchased an Orbis Ring Flash a few weeks ago and this shoot was my first chance to try it out. It's not a true ring flash in the sense that it doesn't have a flash bulb in it but instead you insert your off camera flashes into it and then trigger it either with an attached cord or wireless trigger. I actually attached my flash to a tripod for these shots and then put the Orbis Ring Flash on over top of it and shot through the center of ring flash. Overall I am very pleased with the results. Sure it's not going to give me the same quality of light that a professional Profoto ring light would but it's portable and costs way less. You'll notice in the photos below the catch lights in her eyes are ring shaped. For the photos against the wall she is standing about six inches away from it and notice the perfectly silhouetted shadow and how it outlines her body.

The next post will be with model Tasha and her shoot that was also done with the ring light. Stay tuned!

Model Shoot - Tracy

I had the opportunity of working with model Tracy two weeks ago on this shoot. The inspiration from it came from Tracy to make her into a bit of a quirky Clockwork Orange type of character. We enlisted the help of make up artist Andie and hair stylist Ana Luisa to make this transformation take place. Tracy said that she never thought that she would be good at glamour and fashion but I beg to differ. The whole team did an incredible job and we all had lots of fun. Ana Luisa had put on some crazy hair extensions on Tracy and I am a big into backlighting hair or at least using a hair light for separation of the subject from the background. I tried a bare bulb flash behind Tracy but eventually found a pink gel that really made the shot more interesting and really enhances the look for the last two shots.

Model Shoot - Shazmin, Cleopatra Look

Last year was quite a whirlwind with the wedding and it has been awhile since I've been in the studio. Thought I'd start 2010 with a more focused approach on building up my portfolio and networking more with likeminded people. Last weekend I got together with model Shazmin who had put out a casting call looking for a photographer to help with a Cleopatra inspired theme that she was looking to do. We teamed up with make up artist Cherry and hairstylist Rhi for the shoot. The two of them were true perfectionists and I think it really shows in the final results. To enhance the golden skin look of the makeup I tried something a bit different. I used the gold side of my 60" reflector and bounced a flash off of it as the key light and kind of turned it into a big golden softbox. Additional hairlight at camera left was covered with a quarter cut of CTO gel. I did some very minor spot exposure corrections in Lightroom but for the most part not much post work was done for these shots.

Model Shoot - Brittany

I had the pleasure this past weekend to work with Brittany and also makeup artist Jazmin. Both of them were very professional and fun to work with. I had originally thought about an outdoor shoot but because of the forecast for rain on our shoot day we opted for the studio instead but as luck would have it the better part of the day was actually really sunny. Fortunately though the studio has these huge windows at one end that lets in some amazing natural light when the sun is in the right place. I've been wanting to challenge myself a bit more and leave the safety of the studio and start doing more location lighting and mixing strobes with natural light and ambient light. For part of this session I tried some shots next to the windows and mixed in some fill flash just enough to blend with the natural light but to also get those catch lights in the eyes.

Model Shoot - Vienna

This is a model shoot I did a few weekends ago with Vienna. We had a hairstylist, Ivy and makeup artist Melissa helping out on the shoot as well. We had three different looks that day and tried some natural lighting as well as some work with flashes. Vienna wanted to do a sexy but innocent nerdy look and brought along a fake apple that had me fooled that it was real right up until I actually picked it up. Here are a few shots from the session.

Model Shoot - Flo

I had the chance a few weekends ago to work with Flo and makeup artist Bella. Flo showed up already in makeup and had this really interesting design on her face. At first I thought it was just a pretty random design that Bella had drawn on Flo's face but if you looked closely you could see that it was actually her name. Pretty cool! We went through a few makeup and wardrobe changes throughout our shoot and Flo was amazing with her posing and facial expressions. One of the best I have worked with so far I might add. Before I knew it I had filled up an entire compact flash card, something I have never done before in a single session. I usually average anywhere from 100 to 120 shots per hour of straight shooting so after a two or three hour shoot I have somewhere close to 450 frames. At the end of the session with Flo after having to change flash cards I had over 700 frames. Here is just a very small sampling from that session.