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Posts Tagged ‘Beauty Photography’

Shooting Black & White with Anna Rojo

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Lately I’ve had a strong craving for shooting in black and white. For last month’s trip to Hermosillo, Sonora I decided to satisfy that craving and shoot solely in black and white… the photo shoot, candids, everything. I think I started driving my friends crazy with all the black and white photos.

After a most tasty breakfast of fish tacos and orange juice over at my favorite restaurant Taco Fish, we returned to the hotel to meet up with Anna Rojo for the photo shoot. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to be staying within visual range of the shooting location. The first setup was on the staircase, merely five feet outside the hotel room door. Simplicity was the goal for this shoot. The first two photos were lit with a single speedlight, shot through the translucent portion of a circular reflector.

For the next two setups, we headed out to the pool area, a daunting fifty feet away from the first setup. These setups were shot completely with natural light and a bit of assistance from a silver reflector. Check out my Facebook fan page for some behind the scenes photos I posted from this shoot!

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Anna Rojo en el Centro Cultural Musas

Friday, January 8th, 2010

This past month we took a trip to Hermosillo, Sonora for an extended weekend. It had been a few months since I had last been there. The weekend was mostly a vacation of sandboarding, clubs and the best fish tacos on the planet… but I did get some shooting in while I was there.

For this shoot I met up at the Centro Cultural Musas with my friend and photographer Fidel and model Anna Rojo. Anna modeled for the calendar we shot back in early 2009, though we were in Puerto Penasco different weekends and hadn’t crossed paths. This shoot was worth the wait. Anna was a pleasure to work with. We had a great time and created some solid photos. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

A trip is planned before the end of the month and another is in the works for February. Watch for more photos from my sessions in Mexico.

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Clean Beauty Photography with Britnee Johnson

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Britnee Johnson - S.I.M. Agency ModelBritnee Johnson - S.I.M. Agency Model

This past year has seen a lot of location work and it was long over due for my good friend and makeup artist Lorri Mitchell and I to meet up and create something in studio. For this session we decided to go with a handfull of clean, simplistic beauty concepts and had the pleasure of working with Britnee Johnson from S.I.M. Agency. We started out with a list of conceptual ideas. Each concept based on a single element, from which we built the entire look of the the image.

Britnee Johnson - S.I.M. Agency ModelBritnee Johnson - S.I.M. Agency Model

As is in usual fashion when I get to shoot with Lorri, we rocked it out and had a blast! Watch for more beauty inspired concept sessions over the next couple winter months as we hide out in the studio from our chilling 50 degree Arizona winters!

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Portfolio Development Shoot with Britni Morgan

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Britni Morgan - Model & ActressBritni Morgan - Model & Actress

This past weekend I had the pleasure to work with Britni Morgan on her portfolio before her departure to LA. These are a few of my favorite photos from our session.

Britni Morgan - Model & ActressBritni Morgan - Model & Actress

Britni recently had a part in the upcoming action thriller Piranha 3D, filmed at Lake Havasu in June. The film is due to be released in March next year. We wish her luck in her pursuits in LA.

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Knowing When to Change Course and Reinvent the Shot

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Shooting Beauty in Studio with Gwen Lindvig This past week I had a test shoot with model Gwen and Makeup Artist Heather Wilson. I’ve shot with Gwen once before. For Heather and I, this was our first shoot together after finally meeting a month or so ago at a magazine release party, rooftop at the W Hotel in Scottsdale.

For this shoot, we had a few looks in mind for the three setups we were going to shoot. This is one of the photos I liked from this setup. My style is rooted in beauty, fashion and the occasional lifestyle shoot. I’m definitely not a glamour photographer. Though with this shoot, every setup seemed to keep sliding into a glamour look.

While taking about a past shoot, a photographer once told me I should never tell a model that what we’re shooting isn’t working. Evidently, “it undermines your talent and negatively affects the model’s confidence”. I completely disagree. Everyone at the shoot came to create something great and wants to walk away from the shoot knowing they achieved that goal. In reviewing the photos, you find that you’re just not feeling it or the shoot is not heading in the desired direction, stop, speak up and evaluate what needs to change.

The key to successfully changing course and reinventing your shot is balance. There is no point to continue down a path that leads to photos that don’t speak to you. However you must be brief in your reflection and modifications. Too much time spent in changing direction will start to wear on your team’s enthusiasm. If you’re going to change course, be sure you can come up with an alteration or new direction quickly. I’ve learned this lesson a couple times over. Too much tweaking and fiddling with your lights, to get just the right effect, can strongly impact your model’s interest level.

On this shoot I tried a few new setups and got some good shots, though in hindsight, there were a few opportunities for reinventing the shot that could have produced photos more inline with my style and vision. Don’t be afraid to change it up when it’s not moving in the direction you desire.

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Jazmin & Neli… Runway Hair and Makeup

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Jazmin Riley - Phoenix Arizona Model - Makeup by Adrian VarelaNeli Felix - Hermosillo Sonora Model - Makeup by Adrian Varela

The other week while Neli was visiting Phoenix, Jazmin and Neli were cast in the student designer fashion show at Mesa Community College. While in hair and makeup, they met Makeup Artist AdrianVarela at Macy’s. From what I heard, they had a lot of fun and and he took great care of them. After the event, we shot a series of photos of them to send back to him.

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Beauty Inspired Shoe Photo Shoot with Jazmin Riley

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Beauty inspired high-fashion photo shoot with Jazmin RileyOne of my favorite styles of photography to shoot is close-up beauty and fashon work with clean, simplistic lighting. This photo shoot was no exception.

While chatting with Gwen and Lorri, Jazmin brought up a concept she had been interested in for some time, a beauty inspired setup using shoes as a high-fashion prop. Everyone liked the idea and Gwen was looking to add more fashion photos to her portfolio, so we got to it and started to flush out the concept.

Lorri decided to go with a contrasting look for each of the models. Gwen’s makeup took on a moody and fashion feel, with dark eyes and pale skin. Jazmin’s makeup more clean and natural. For each setup, the model’s makeup was updated slightly to match the shoes they were working with. I went to work on changing the lighting, while Jazmin sorted through a pile of shoes she brought from her collection.

Lighting Diagram for Fashion Photo Shoot with Jazmin RileyFor this series, I used a variation of the lighting I often like to use in my beauty work. The setup involves a single strobe, used as the main light and a number of reflectors. The main light strobe was fired into a large satin umbrella that was placed high and directly in front of the models. For the background I was looking to capture a soft light gray, so I decided upon using the white seamless and not directly lighting it. The fall off from the main light was enough to create the color I was looking for. The large umbrella itself creates a soft wrap around light, though I wanted very little shadows and a few of the setups were to include both models. To accommodate this, I added two large white reflectors on both sides of the set, placed four feet or so away from the models to maintain a little bit of the shaping qualities from the light falling off. Lastly, a white reflector was placed at floor level, angled towards the models to provide a little fill under their chins.

If you’d like to see more from this shoot, watch my Flickr photostream as I post more photos over the next couple weeks.

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Shooting Beauty with Gwen

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Beauty Photography Shoot with Gwen LindvigMy good friend and Makeup Artist Lorri Mitchell and I have been working together this past month to update our beauty portfolios for 2009. One of the models we’ve had the pleasure to work with was Gwen. Working with Gwen was great. We were able to rock a number of setups and walked away with some great photos.

When shooting for beauty, I like to light so the model’s skin has a bit of pop or glow to it. On the other hand, I don’t want to wash out all the detail in her skin, such as her pores, and end up with a plasticy look to her skin.

To achieve this look, I used a three light setup. The main light used to illuminate Gwen was a strobe fired into a large white satin bounce umbrella. The umbrella is positioned above and close to the model, taking advantage of the wrap around light a bounce umbrella produces. To soften the shaddows created by the high placement of the strobe, a white reflector was placed below Gwen, just out of frame.

Lighting Diagram for Beauty Photo Shoot with Gwen LindvigThe white seamless background was lit with two strobes fired into shoot through umbrellas positioned at an angle on each side of the background. Since I wanted a light that wrapped around Gwen and not just a white background, I set exposure on the background 1.5 stops higher than necessary. This wrap around light helps to add to the softness of the photograph. See the lighting diagram for a visual on how everything was setup. Check back next week for a peek at another one of the setups we did with Gwen.

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