Snow Queen
Jan, 2016Views
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Winner in People Close Ups Only Photo Challenge
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Millar_Images
March 12, 2019
Congratulations!! I chose you to win my challenge "People Close Up Only". I chose yours for the natural lighting and beautiful toning. The colors are superb, and her eyes are amazing!
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This picture was captured on a snowy day in a little known nature reserve near a winding river. With fresh untouched snow all around, it created some wonderful reflected light.Time
Still overcast after the heavy snow fall, the sky yielded the perfect lighting for this shot at about mid afternoon. The sun was still high enough in the sky that the sun's rays were defused by the clouds adding a mild glow to the landscape.Lighting
The snowy ground was the perfect reflector for this shot making this originally challenging shot easy. Not only did it illuminate her eyes, which were partially covered by her fur hood, it brought life to the highlights in her hair and the fur of her hood.Equipment
For my camera, I chose to pair my Nikon D5100 camera with my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm lens. In addition to using the snow as a natural reflector, all I really needed to finish the shot was a simple handheld reflector.Inspiration
I have always enjoyed the beauty of a fur hood. Many of the models that I have used in the past did not have a long enough face to pull my vision off. When I met the model I used for this shot, she was wearing her fur hood just as I had envisioned! At the first big snow, the shoot was on!Editing
"Keep it natural" is my motto. However, everyone knows that a camera will never fully capture what the human eye sees. My post-processing consists of doing my best to recreate what I saw when I took the picture- to recreate what made me want to take the picture. For this shot, my camera didn't quite capture the full greenness of the model's eyes or the striking highlights of the fur hood. By adjusting the color curves and using many different filters and the dodge tool, I successfully brought my remembrance to life.In my camera bag
For this shoot, I already knew what I wanted to use. Because of that, I packed very lightly since there was a bit of hiking around. However, on a typical shoot I will also include a couple flashes and my AF-S Nikkor 300mm lens.Feedback
I really enjoy working with outdoor lighting. There is something special about working with nature to create a gorgeous shot of a beautiful model. The hardest thing is that nature is not always where you want it to be when you want it to be. The best advice I can give is to start reading and studying natural light. A book can give you tips, but you have to step outside and observe it for yourself. You have to become one with it and with the elements.
