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Test Session

 On July 17th, I did my first photoshoot since moving back to Northern Virginia. I worked with the lovely Jessica and the MUA Nicole.  This first shoot was a very simple shoot to test out the space I will use as my in-home studio and work a bit more with gels.

For this shoot I used:

  • Canon 80D
  • 2 Speed lights
  • 2 strobes
  • Trigger
  • 2 Square Soft Boxes
  • Gels
  • Grids
  • White backdrop
  • Backdrop stand
  • 2 C-stands

For this shoot I used my standard 18-200mm lens. I was shooting at ISO 100, a shutter speed of 1/250s, and using two different apertures F8 and F10. My aperture was so high because I really was trying to bring down the ambient without going into high-speed sync, also I didn’t need to worry about bokeh since the background was plain.  My focal length ranged from 18mm to 100mm, with the most common focal length being 40mm.

My favorite image from the shoot, leans a bit towards a bridal portrait due to the headpiece, the color of the dress, and the large flower prop.  The image portrays a soft romantic feel, yet is a bit exotic due to the headpiece.  When editing the image, I kept it bright and soft, with only very light vignette around the edges. I did do standard edits and used some frequency separation techniques to remove some minor blemishes and even out skin tone.  Even if you have perfect skin, I usually do some minor tone adjustments and leveling just to smooth everything out and make it more perfect.

ISO 100, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/250s, Focal Length 60mm

Overall, the session went well, and it accomplished my goals of testing out the space and getting to work with a new model and MUA.

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