Woodland Elves
This image was taken by Patricia Maureen Photography - P.M.P.
Female Model: Tatjana M Boesen
Male Model: Chase Olswang
Make up by: Faina Ru...
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This image was taken by Patricia Maureen Photography - P.M.P.
Female Model: Tatjana M Boesen
Male Model: Chase Olswang
Make up by: Faina Rudshteyn
Hair and Assistant Makeup by: Rebecca Hurwitz
Styling by: Patty Mo
I wanted to challenge myself to create a woodland elf and fairy photo shoot so I put a team together and this was the amazing outcome.
Read less
Female Model: Tatjana M Boesen
Male Model: Chase Olswang
Make up by: Faina Rudshteyn
Hair and Assistant Makeup by: Rebecca Hurwitz
Styling by: Patty Mo
I wanted to challenge myself to create a woodland elf and fairy photo shoot so I put a team together and this was the amazing outcome.
Read less
Feb, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at Balboa Park in Encino, CA. I live right across the street so it made it very convenient to do this photo shoot.Time
This was a very long day for us. I had an amazing hair and SFX makeup team that consisted of Faina Rudshteyn and her assistant Rebecca Hurwitz that arrived around 7am. My models were Chase Olswang and Tatjana Bluchel who arrived around 8am. The makeup alone took several hours to complete on each model. I also had several other models that were working with us on this day. So by time we got all the models into hair, makeup and costumes, we made it just in time to shoot golden hour. This particular image was the last image I took from our shoot. The sun had set and it was so dark already. The blue sky settled in just before night fall and only for a few minutes before pitch black.Lighting
I went to grab my flash and it was out of battery. I was so mad because I really wanted to get this shot. So I tried another light I had on me and it also was out of battery. My camera kept saying low light, so I improvised and grabbed my cell phone and gave it to one of the other models and asked them to hold the flashlight pointing at my models. It was giving me really nice lighting so I asked all my models grab their phones and turn on the flashlight and point it at my two models. After just slight adjustment of the phone flashlight placement I was able to capture this image as my very last shot of the night. I am so beyond pleased with how this image turned out with the sky blue from dusk, and the lighting from the cell phone flashlights. I don't think I could have asked for a better time for my flash to die on me. Sometimes mistakes are very happy mistakes that turn into masterpieces.Equipment
This was shot on my Panasonic DMC-GX7 mirrorless camera. LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II. No tripod just hand held with no flash.Inspiration
I was really wanting to do a fun photoshoot so I was looking through pinterest for some ideas. I found some really fun shots of elves in the open areas and forrest like settings with amazing makeup. I decided thats the type of photo shoot I wanted to recreate. I had worked with my male model Chase Olswang a few times before, so when I told him my idea he said he would be my model for this shoot as well. He asked me if I needed a makeup artist and I said yes. Chase had worked with Faina Rudshteyn on a few network makeup shows so I was very blessed to have them both on my team. When I had this shoot in my mind originally, I knew I would get some good shots, but I had no idea It would turn into such an amazing outcome. I even surprised myself when I saw the final images. This is one of my favorite images from my entire woodland elf and fairy photo shoot to date.Editing
Let me just start off by saying, I am not an editor, I am a self taught, non technical photographer. I am horrible at editing photos, I don't even use photoshop or Lightroom. With that being said, the only editing that I did to this photo was in Picasa. I added contrast, and brightened the exposure just a bit and lightened some shadows. I also cleaned up the back of the ear just a little to blend where we had to use spirit gum to attach the elf ears. Then I was satisfied and saved the image to what you see here.In my camera bag
My must haves in my camera bag/backpack/purse are my Panasonic DMC-GX7 camera, and I typically only use 3 different lenses. I have my main lens which is my long lens Lumix 45-150 HD 0.9m/3.0ft. I use the Lumix 14-42 0.2m/0.66ft. And the last one is Lumix 25 0.25m/0.82ft. I love the compact size of my camera, it is small enough to fit in my purse (yes I keep my camera and all 3 lenses in my purse or backpack) Its super great for traveling and when people see my camera and gear everyone always asks me what kind of camera I am using. I also keep a light source or 3. An external flash (which I hardly ever use), I keep a portable battery operated LED light that fits in the flash area, I also keep another LED Light that changes colors if I want different lighting effects. My must must must haves are the camera cleaning optical wipes. I normally keep about 10 of those in my bag or purse to clean my lens frequently. I will also sometimes use a tripod or some camera attachments and I always have rechargeable batteries on hand and a charger.Feedback
My best advice would be just pick up a camera and go have fun. Be creative, get a great team together and go out and shoot. There are several times I think I want one shot, but it doesn't end up working out the way I had planned. Either the lighting will be off, or I am just not able to capture whats in my head, so I improvise a lot of my shots. I very much enjoy the candid and "mistake shots" because most of the time those are the shots that I end up falling in love with.
