Valkyrie
Valkyrie dress and headdress designed by Follee Fee.
Valkyrie dress and headdress designed by Follee Fee.
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Jan, 2018Views
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Awards
Chatter Award
Top Shot Award
Community Choice Award
Runner Up in Fairytale Portraiture Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Fairytale Portraiture Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Cultures of the World Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Superior Skill
Virtuoso
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Genius
Emotions
Impressed
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at my home studio in a small town nearby Florence, Italy. I'm a self taught photographer and I love to be able to control light to create something magical and not ordinary.Time
It was taken in a couple of hours in the afternoon at my home studio so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves and get comfortable.Lighting
I wanted to keep the mood as dark as because I wanted her to look fierce and strong and badass but with an halo of mistery like an ancient Goddess. I had to lighten up her face to emphasize the make up and the amazing headdress Folle Fee designed so well so I put a softbox on the right side of the face and a flash with barndoor on the background to pop her out of the darkness. I Always put my main light on the side of the model's face mostly because I really like to shoot headshots and I like how shadows and light interact on my subject changing its form.Equipment
My equipment is really a basic one: I shot with a Nikon d7000 and a 65mm 2.8, 4 Quantuum Move400 flash lights with barndoors and 2x2 feet softboxes for the main and rim lighInspiration
It all started when Folle Fee, the talented German designer, contacted me to organize this shooting with her clothes and headdress. I saw them and new instantly what I wanted to shoot: a fierce and powerful warrior goddess. And knew instantly who my model would be, my bff, which is a non professional model but always looks amazing when you give her a weapon and put a crown on her.Editing
I always pp my photos because I don't want to recreate reality, I like to have my models in my own world which is a dark, gloomy but with some ray of lights. I used a preset of color correction actions created by the so very talented photographer Bella Kotak and retoucher Pratik Naik called Fine Art Actions which helped me enhance the golden and warm colors of the image. I did also a dodge and burn retouch on her skin. I change the background as well with one more painting alike.In my camera bag
I tend to shot only in studio so I never forget my flashes and softboxes. I love my 65mm lens which is always with me even the few times I shot on location. I know it's not the recommended lens for portraits (it's very good for macro indeed) but I love the look it gave to my shoots. This is basically all I need, as well as a background holder which used to be a cloth hanger made by iron pipes by my superhandy boyfriend.Feedback
For a dark mood you need to be very carefull with the lighting control so, unless you want to spend thousand of hours on Photoshop postproducing the photos, shoot in studio. You can even try with one light only set up but I prefer to separate my subject from the background for a better pp. Most of the "epicness" in this photo is done by the accessories. I've done the claw by myself, buying pieces on ebay and watching tutorials on Youtube. But the real deal is working with talented designers. A great dress vs a regular one will determinate the success of the shooting. As well as the make up and the model's attitude. In a few words: work with talented people. This does NOT mean that you have to choose the most famous ones of the area. But the ones that are in synch with your thinking and are willing to learn. Communicate with them all the time: plan everything before the shooting, talk to them on set and let them suggest you any modifications may be worth the change.
