80's Neon Vibes

On April 30th I did neon inspired session with model, Anastasia and MUA, Caroline.  The whole session revolved around the neon fabric I bought over a year ago and finally was inspired to use.

Equipment

Cannon 80D Trigger 1 strobe 1 c-stands 1 boom arm 1 Backdrop stands black backdrop Neon fabric overlay Sandbags 1 beauty dish 2 tiny soft boxes 1 curved reflector (gold) 3 light stands 2 speedlight 1 posing stool

The set up

For this shoot I knew it would be all about the make-up and how it went with the background, so I did a basic beauty set up, using a modified clamshell set up.  For the modified clamshell I attached a beauty dish to a boom arm so I could get the light high and almost directly above the model, then placed a curved reflector on a light stand below that to reflect light up and fill the shadows. I then place two speedlights with tiny soft boxes to either side pointed at the backdrop but feathered enough just to add a hint of rim lighting on the model to provide a bit of separation from the background.  For the background I hung the neon fabric over a standard black backdrop, since the fabric was sheer and would show the wall without a second layer.  Overall, it was very simple set up.

Lighting Set Up

Camera Settings

For this session I used ISO 100 with an aperture of F9 and a shutter speed of 1/160s.  My focal length very from 20mm to 120mm with the most common lengths being 28mm, 35mm, and 15mm.

The Photos

First off, Caroline nailed the make-up look. I provided her a picture of the fabric, a mood board, and the general feel I was going for then she took it from there.  Then Anastasia brought the look to life and just rocked it out during the session.  I feel these photos give off that 80’s rock n’ roll vibe with a hint of elegance.  Additionally, because I was using the same setting throughout the session, and the make up being very well done, I didn’t do a ton of retouching to the photos.  For all the photos from this session, I did basic exposure adjustments, cropping, and color grading in Lightroom. I then did standard touchups in Photoshop, as well as used frequency separation and dodge/burn to give the images that professional polish.  You can see the evolution of the one of the photos in the short video below.

Since I did the same retouch process for all the photos, I’m not going to do a breakdown of each of my favorites, as in previous posts.  I’m just going to share my favorites with some notes in the photo caption.

I feel the model was channeling an 80's rock singer in for her album cover photo session.

Love how the eyes pop out in this image, and you get the air of mystery. 

I love how you can really see the eye make-up here, without the traditional looking down pose. I feel like the model is just vibing to some internal music. 

I asked the model to scream "pretty" and she delivered. I get that overwhelmed crazy rage against the world vibe from this image. 

I love how these turned out, and special thank you to Anastasia who was able to do this session on such a short notice.   You can see all the image from this session here: Neon. Images from this session are scheduled to be published in “Off Town Magazine.”

Credits

Model: Anastasia (Instagram - @Brunklestein)

MUA: Caroline (Instagram- @hair.makeup.caroline)