Take Pride
Jul, 2018Views
651
Likes
Awards
Community Choice Award
Contest Finalist in Covers Photo Contest Vol 48
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 2
Top 10 rank
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 2
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
We took this in our studio, in the heart of the fens, England.Time
We were shooting for the whole morning, This was taken fairly early in the day.Lighting
I lit the shot with Elinchrom lighting and was ensuring no shadows on the paper background. I tend not to overcomplicate my light set-ups as I find that with shots like this it is best to have simple lighting which shows the model of to perfection. I also like my models to be expressive, which Hannah does really well.Equipment
I used a nikon D5 to take the shot with my nikon 105mm f/1.4 lens as ifind that the lens has such clarity. I used an aperture of f/8.0 with a speed of 1/125 sec exposure and an ISO of 100 as I wanted the depth of field to be large. At that speed I do not need a tripod so the shot was hand held.Inspiration
The photograph was a true collaboration. My wife, Caroline, is a high quality Makeup artist and our model for the day was Hannah, who has worked with us on a number of projects.It is quite a technical make-up as the zipper had to be blended into the face to make it look real and to make the colours pop. The idea behind the shot was to celebrate diversity of both sex and colour. We have pride days around the U.K. and this was taken to feature on Facebook and other social media in celebration of Pride. It is meant tos how the colours inside are not always that obvious on a face but once a person opens up (hence the zip) there is always a lot more to see inside.Editing
As always with portraits I enhanced the eyes with various techniques, the eyes are my first target as they are always the doorway to a person's soul. The whites of the eyes are cleaned, and then the irises have some depth added to the colour. Lastly the catchlights are enhanced. There was a very small amount of blending to do around one area of the zip where it had moved just a fraction. The final piece of the jigsaw is to remove any obvious blemishes and marks and then to do some skin smoothing.In my camera bag
My bag varies depending what I am shooting. If I had a bag big enough to fit all of my kit in I would also need a truck to carry it around :)Feedback
Any project that has a specific aim needs work prior to the shoot. A lot of thought goes in to a shot like this. Considerations are what you are trying to show, what look would tell the story that you want to be shown, will the image work without a description, what look do you want for the shot, model wise, facial expression, colours. I find the best shots come from collaborations, my wife and I discussing looks (it helps when you have an MUA at hand) and involving the model always works. In this shot Hannah asked us if we would try for a look celebrating diversity. Don't limit yourself to what you can achieve, most things are possible. Think outside the box, get together a creative team and always consider a few looks and ideas before starting the shoot. With studio shots the lights, the set and the model are all controllable so you can plan, plan, plan and plan again. Once you are good enough technically to create the lighting, you have a great model and not forgetting the brilliant MUA/set designer you can have so much fun as a team and come up with shots you can all be proud of. With this shot it belongs to all three of us and we should all be credited.
