Francesca for Eye Sparkles

I am so thrilled; it’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.  I have been in contact with Ann off-and-on over the past year.  I am actually embarrassed to even contact her because I’ve canceled on her too many times.  This time, I am determined to see the project through.  Ann agreed to collaborate with me to shoot some accessories for Eye Sparkles fashion outlet.  To sweeten the pot, I recruited the amazingly captivating Francesca.  She is simply wonderful; I could shoot with her all day.  So many looks, so little time.

We decided to start with a clean natural look with Francesca’s hair tied up.  This way we can showcase the accessories without too much distraction.  But seriously, how could you not be distracted by Francesca?  Ann and her assistant Trang Le quickly went to work.  Watching Ann work is like watching a maestro perform.  Every move is crisp and confident; it must be such a pleasure to be doll’d up by Ann.

Meanwhile, I started to prep the set.   A white seamless paper is used for background.  For lighting, I started with the following:

• PCB Einstein with white beauty dish.  Center, above eye-level.
• PCB Einstein with softbox.  Behind Francesca, pointing down for hair and rim light.

A quick test shot.  Not bad, but rather boring;  too catalog-ish.  

Wen and Only Wen

About a month ago, I had the chance to spend a weekend in Taipei.  To kill time, I decided to scout for models via Modelmayhem.  Since I was traveling, I was only able to bring limited gear.  The other restriction was location;  the temperature outside was 90+degF with high humidity.  Given these two challenges, I decide to do a glamour set in my hotel room.  I chose Wen because her portfolio shows she is experienced with my theme;  sure enough, she did not disappoint me.  She is full of energy and always excited to improvise on my ideas no matter how dumb they were.  The excitement she brought made the shoot extra fun.

Liz Ashley – Corset

Same setup as Liz in jeans.  But with Storano red gel on the back.

Liz Ashley – High Key

Well… let’s call it a high-key attempt; I didn’t over-expose it enough to fit the description of classic high-key.

Liz Ashley – Bedroom Set

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time; bedroom set with shallow DOF.  Focus on the eyes only;  bokeh cross the rest of the body.

Eliz

I usually don’t shoot nude or bodyscapes.  Not that I don’t like them; it’s just that I have not found the secret sauce to make the pictures come out glamorous.  Recently, I started to understand what makes bodyscape pictures stand out – shadows.

Jen – Natural Light

No fancy lighting trick here.  Just beautiful Jen with her memorizing eyes.  I just love the highlights on her hair.  From this angle, she does have a slight resemblance to Jennifer Morrison (House MD).  I pre-processed the raw file with Capture NX2 – adjusted the black point to improve contrast (she was slightly back-lit); then just finish up with minor retouches in Photoshop.

Jen

Every once in a while I come across models that I knew I had to work with; Jen is a perfect example. 

Isa – High Fashion

For this set, Isa came out with a high fashion look.  We changed the background to black for intensity.  A grid was added to the AB800 to produce a spotlight on the background.  I wanted to get some motion; so I asked Isa to flip her cape and raise her leg at the same time.  To freeze the motion, I had the camera on high speed continuous mode.  Thanks to those fast Alien Bees, they didn’t miss a sync.  As far as post processing goes, I had to spend some time smoothing out her legs; the gradient from the octa casted more shadow on her stockings.

Jillian Ann – Natural Light

Every once in a while, I like to shoot with natural ambient light.  No lighting tricks, just your subject, and what you feel.  In this series, I used a gold reflector to enhance the contrast on Jillian.  I just love how Jillian looks.