Model - ElizabethYear Taken - April 2013Camera - Nikon D3sLens - Nikon 105mm f/2.8GLocation - Studio

Elizabeth

Do you know that its actually possible to work with somebody too pretty? This is Elizabeth and when I met her today, I was certain that I wouldnt get a single shot that was as pretty as she actually is. She is 19 years old and has such natural beauty that she comes pre-Photoshopped and in all honesty, it makes life harder! Some models you look at and you know what will suit them, what wont, and you work to that. You hide their flaws, you emphasise their beauty and you bring out the best of them and afterwards, you can look back and feel proud of yourself. With Elizabeth, it doesnt matter what angle you shoot, what f-stop, what lighting - she looks perfect, and I dont like that :). The other annoying thing to consider is she isnt even a model, she is a make-up artist!!!

For example, this shot is taken on my D3s at ISO 1600, against the window to the studio with nothing more than a reflector bouncing a little bit of the cloudy day that was winding down outside. No editing, no effort, no credit can go to me! This is literally straight out of the camera. Later on in the shoot, I brought some lighting into the equation, used a beauty dish to flatter her skin tones, used softboxes to diffuse the lighting - none of it made any difference, but Id appreciate it if you humoured me and said it did ;). I took hundreds of images of Elizabeth and I dont think there is a bad one - many more to come.

Lighting

Simple, stand her against the window to the studio, so she is backlit and place a silver reflector in front of her pointing upwards to reflect some of the light back into her eyes (thats why they are so blue). The silver reflector cools the light ever so slightly.

Processing

Cross processed the entire image (minus bra and eyes) with a hint of yellow to give it a glow.

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