Wiredin
Senior Member
Kiss- by LK_335, on FlickrThis is my first "concept" modeling shoot. A creative collaboration between the model and I. I normally do lifestyle stuff, but have taken 2015 to start focusing more on conceptual, editorial, and soon glamour style photography and get further away from weddings and the general public. Sick and tired of the average bride wanting to look like Tyra Banks in her wedding pictures and blowing a gasket when she doesn't.
Nikon D8000
Nikon 24-70/f2.8
iso 100
1/80 second
f4
zoomed to 32mm
lighting:
2 Elinchrom Dlite 4 (1 with a 100cm Octabox deep-throat, the other a 6" reflector with diffuser disc)
2 SB910 speed lights on stands set for wide dispersion
Octa facing the model camera left, same distance from the model as the camera. Set about 1 foot above the camera (5 feet)
Reflector camera right facing the model (good distance away) on low power facing down about 7 feet in the air
one speed light camera left illuminating the side of the vehicle, aimed towards the ground to bounce the light up
one speed light directly behind the car for frim light, don't think it fired
The idea was to mix modern, retro, and luxury into one. So we picked out an outfit inspired by the "We Can Do It!" posters (which we played on that for a pose too, but I haven't edited' it yet), got her hair done and makeup done in a pinup look. We were lucky to be allowed to shoot in an Infiniti dealership and use a brand new Infiniti Q50 as our prop. We approached Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar, Landrover...but Infiniti was the only one to reply. We also got a call back from Dodge to use a Challenger Hellcat, but I didn't like the look of the shop, wasn't as clean and modern as I wanted. And the Hellcat isn't exactly "luxury" but still would have been awesome.
My model may be a bit larger than your stereotypical model, but when I asked her to do pinup with me it was because of her size. I wanted a "normal" woman with some curves for this shoot.
This was a fantastic team, first time I had makeup and hair on site doing touch ups and adjustments as I was moving lights around. It was awesome. Usually my makeup artist just goes and reads a book if she stays on set. So having that hands on team was just amazing.
edit: post processing
For post processing I did basic adjustments and color correction in Lightroom CC. I used an X-Rite color checker passport and created a camera profile based on that. I did basic sharpening, and some dodge and burn. Specifically darkened the background to black out the tool boxes in the shop and to brighten the grill and the ground around the model and vehicle.
I then moved into photoshop and applied a few different layer masks. I did a clarity and sharpness mask on the ground and grill and other details on the vehicle to really make the details stand out and make them punch a bit. I boosted the brightness of the model. I applied no skin softening or beauty touch ups aside from getting rid of a few piercings. Did some basic cleanup for sensor/lens dust. Performed a highpass sweep at 1 pixel to finish it off.
Back into Lightroom for a few more local adjustments using clarity/dodge and burn.
Exported into NIK (can't remember which plugin specifically) to add the frame and apply a custom film emulation layer without the grain to give it more of that "retro" look and feel.
In lightroom again to adjust overall exposure as NIK darkened it by about a half stop. (I still think I could/should have gone maybe a 1/3 stop brighter) and did a de-noise adjustment.
Finally, exported one more time into photoshop to lengthen the canvas to make it look like a Poloroid and put the credits on the bottom. Not my usual watermark font.
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