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Crystals & Pearls

On January 16th, I worked with the lovely China Limehouse for a beauty shoot. This shoot was based around a white pearl and crystal headpiece that wraps partially around the face. Since this was a beauty shoot, I brought in a make-up artist (MUA). The MUA for this shoot was Ashley Peter, who used a white, silver, and blue pallet to go with the headpiece.

For this shoot I used:

  • Canon 80D
  • EF 70-200 F2.8 Lens
  • Tether
  • Flash Trigger
  • Grey backdrop
  • Backdrop Stand
  • C-Stand
  • Boom Arm
  • Beauty dish
  • Phottix strobes
  • Silver reflector
  • Grey card set

For this shoot I focused on the face and headpiece, so never went larger than a ¾ length body shot.  The lighting was a simple, using only the beauty dish which was set in front of the model and raised to be looking down at a 30–45-degree angle.  I then filled in the shadows with a silver reflector, which the model held in her lap.  I did not use the reflector for all the shots.  The variety in the shots were based on the model moving and turning her head.

For this shoot I did not use my standard 18-200mm lens; I used a 70-200mm lens. The switch to the 70-200mm lens forced me to stay further back, and zoom in on the face. Additionally, the 70-200mm lens I was using has higher quality glass and is general higher quality lens overall and can maintain a fixed aperture while zooming, while my standard 18-200mm lens cannot. During this session I used ISO 100, an aperture of F4, and a shutter speed of 1/200s.  My focal length varied from 70mm to 182mm with most shots falling between 88 – 95mm.  

I liked several of the images from this session, however what I really like about this session is how the headpiece and the muted color pallet just popped against the model’s skin. My two favorite images from the shoot are below.  

I like the overall feel and emotion present in this first image.  The image to me shows a strong woman but maintains a soft femineity to it. I also really like the crossed arms in this image, I think they add to the overall feel of the image. When editing this image, I used some frequency separation to ensure the skin tone was even, then went through and increase a few highlights on the skin to give it a bit of a glow. I also darkened the background a bit more to ensure it was closer to true black, then added a slight vignette to the image to pull it all together.  

(ISO 100, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/200, Focal Length 90mm)

My second favorite image from the session is a very tight crop image. This image shows off the headpiece and the make-up. It also is a portrays a very strong, powerful, and proud woman. To me the image gives off a regal feel. To edit this image, I darkened the background like in the previous image. I also did some frequency separation to even the skin tone, then went in and highlighted a few areas of the face to ensure the model’s face had a slight glow. I finished the image off by adding a slight vignette to pull it all together. 

(ISO 100, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/200, Focal Length 140mm)

Overall, I like how these images came out from the look to the overall feel. You can see the whole set here.  Also, several of these images were published in SELIN MAGAZINE: Issue 1 Volume 3. 

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