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Behind The Lens
Location
In my home studioTime
In the afternoonLighting
One light well placed is better than two or more.Equipment
T3i, tripod, nothing fancyInspiration
Mekdes was adopted from Africa as a teen. As a young adult she is just now exploring and rediscovering her cultures dress and heritage. She dreams often of one day going home to see relatives (grandmother) before they pass on...Editing
Yes, I wanted the focus to be on her gentle expression not on blemishes. Sometimes I can do this with just the clone tool in Photoshop. But when a image need a little more than just a few touch ups I will do an overlay of an gently fine textures "oil paint" texture to resemble skin texture and then melt it into the the layer with multiply or other blend modes. The goal is the person not blemishes a focus on blemishes. While on the other hand some blemishes ARE the person. Talk to the person about how THEY portray themselves and how would THEY like to be portrayed. That's what matters. Not anyone else. That's what I was going for in this image... Capturing ALL of WHO she IS... inside and out. It's very important to this young girl that others not forget she is not just American but still VERY Ethiopian too...In my camera bag
Canon T3i, 75-200mm, nifty 50Feedback
You don't need a lot of expensive equipment. I really make up a lot in post processing what I lack in camera. I utilize noise reduction and sharpen tools quite often but in balance.