honey
a portrait i took of inka in the last light of the day.
a portrait i took of inka in the last light of the day.
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May, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Legendary Award
Editor's Choice
Staff Winter Selection 2015
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on one of the many beautiful beaches in Sydney, Australia. Most of my fashion shoots take place in natural locations rather than a studio due to my client market.Time
It was leaning towards the end of our shoot and the end of the day when I took this photo. We were working on a full day campaign which means we were shooting from early morning until sunset to be able to capture photos of all the garments we needed for our client. This was one of the last few outfits we were working on, and I snapped this photo at around 6pm. The sun was quite low but not quite set yet, which gives this photo that warm glow.Lighting
Golden hour is my favourite time of day to take photos as I absolutely love the warmth it brings to a photo. The aim of this campaign was to create fun, youthful, carefree photos to show off the clothes from our client. I think the lighting in this image really helps add to that concept and mood by making the image glow and look a little more magical.Equipment
I used my Canon 5D mkiii with a 35mm f1.4 Canon lens to take this photo. I like to keep my equipment setup simple when I am shooting fashion campaigns, so I don't use tripods, reflectors or any extra lighting. Just me, my camera and the model. This is due to my workflow which involves a lot of movement from my model and myself to capture youthful, fun photos. In this particular photo, the model Inka was walking up and down the beach, spinning around and really embodying the fun, carefree mood I was aiming for with this picture. This wouldn't be possible if I had to set up lighting or have someone hold a reflector, as it would mean that the model would need to be in one spot for the photos.Inspiration
I love capturing captivating portraits of people that tell a story. Even though this shoot and this photo was for a campaign for a clothing company, with the movement and lighting I feel like I was able to capture a portrait of Inka that is soft, ethereal and natural. By asking Inka to walk, skip and spin around the beach I was able to capture a photo where she was just being herself, rather than taking a posed photo that looked more forced or stale.Editing
I like to keep my fashion photography post processing simple, as I believe real is beautiful. I applied one of my Digital Film Actions Lightroom Presets (which is a website I own to supply tools for photographers to use in their work), then opened the image in Photoshop. In Photoshop I did very minimal skin retouching and also had to remove a person that was on the sand in the background of the image. With my fashion photography, I usually end up doing a lot more retouching on the background than on the actual model. I prefer to keep my portraits of people looking as realistic as possible.In my camera bag
The main equipment I have in my bag and that I use most often is a Canon 5D mkiii and a 35mm f1.4 Canon lens. I also pack a second camera body just in case something happens to my main body as well as a few other Canon lenses including the 50mm f1.2, 85mm f1.2 and 24mm f1.4. I love shooting with Canon prime lenses as the quality is unbeatable. I have different prime lenses for different reasons. For example, I would normally use my 35mm and 50mm for campaign and creative work, and I would use my 50mm and 85mm for lookbook photography. I also keep plenty of spare camera batteries and memory cards in my bag as well. I've written a detailed blog post recently of what's in my camera bag if you'd like to read more: http://blog.juliatrotti.com/pictures/whats-in-my-camera-bagFeedback
Taking natural portraits of people requires them to be just that: natural. As a photographer, you can spend time setting up your shot, choosing where you want your model to stand, what the background is going to be, how you want the lighting to look like, what your camera settings are going to be. But when it comes time to start taking photos, it's important to make your subject feel comfortable. I love breaking the ice with models by just getting them to run around and be themselves. I ask them to skip around in the location, to laugh if they want to, run, walk around, flick their hair. I don't want my fashion shoots to be typical, posed shoots, I want to bring elements of who the model is into the photo as well. By asking them to do this, it brings a sense of freedom to the shoot where they feel more relaxed and open to create something a little left of centre.
