This past Sunday, Terry and me organized a new photoshoot, this time going for a Beauty/Fashion/Bridal look to showcase her make-up skills. This time, we had three beautiful girls that acted as models - Anna, Mila, Susan and the fourth was Terry herself, who enjoyed the last session so much that she wanted an encore.
Gear, lights and background were the same as last time, but this time I had a steamer available so I was able to clean the wrinkles in the muslin background (that really eased post processing). There was another change – I was able to properly use two flashes for the the background, one flagged by a soft-light reflector I bought from Adorama some time ago on impulse but didn’t find much use, and the second flash flagged with aluminum foil taped with gaffer tape (i really should write a DIY post on this, it’s cheap, strong and very good when used with the shiny side as a reflector). You can see in the above image how I lighted the background.
First up was Anna, very beautiful girl, soon to be a bride. She actually posed as a bride – the makeup was for a Serene/Natural bridal look. As you can see – I gelled the background flash using a blue gel – the veil would not be properly seen on a white background. Anna was quite shy, and I am happy I captured that on camera. I wish her a very beautiful wedding and a happy and long marriage!
Next up was Mila, very pretty, and she was already married – she wore the dress before, so she was a bit more relaxed. Terry gave her a Plum/Lavender bridal look. I kept the blue gel on the background flash, for the same reasons as above.
After these bridal looks, it was time to spice things up a bit, and Susan came forth, looking hot and dressed to kill. The makeup, according to Terry, was for a “Sensual Smokies look”. She was just natural at posing, and made my job very very easy. I just couldn’t take bad pictures of her. For one of the first photos, I tried to light the background purple using a gel, and the photo came out excelent, as if she was walking on the red carpet. I could’ve framed better, but I like this picture just the way it is.
We tried some more poses, I changed the background to white, and this it what came out – she looks like she belongs on a magazine cover.
This turned out to be a long day – Terry was doing make up, and wardrobe and hairstyling for all three models, and my domain was the set. It was an interesting day overall, many lessons to be learned, but the day wouldn’t be over until Terry would step in front of the camera. Here are her pictures - in the first one, she’s holding the brush, as a make up artist she is (she didn’t intend to brush my lens, but I made sure to stay far enough).
In some of the pictures, such as the one below, I decided to move one of the umbrellas lower so the light comes from slightly her chin, to give her a glamorous glow, while i was taking the picture from a slightly high perspective.
We also took a few pictures of Susan and Terry together, and as much as Susan looks naked in this picture, I assure you she was very much dressed, but in a dress that kept her shoulders naked. This pictures, as well as several others, were taken with just one light (the second light was turned off for a change, the photoshoot was going too good to take a break and replace the dead batteries in the flash)
Most of the pictures are taken at f/8, with the Canon 7D with the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, at shutter speeds between 1/125 and 1/200. Flashes for the main and fill lights were set between 1/2 and 1/4 power, lighting through shoot-through umbrellas, controlled by the on-camera flash controller. There was no need for the CST/CSRBs wireless triggers this time, the flash commander worked flawlessly – the pace of the photoshoot was slightly slower, so I didn’t get the dreaded “busy” message on the back camera LCD.
I want to thank Terry for the makeup, Anna, Mila and Susan for being such great models, and you for reading this post. There will be another photo shoot this coming weekend, so stay tuned for that post 
