Black & White Model Portrait

One of the benefits of black & white photos is you can push the contrast of your image further than a colour could handle. When contrast is added in a colour image, the more you add the more saturation you need to deal with, which affects the harmony of the colour grading you’ve made thus far.

Here’s the recent shot from a small session I arranged in my studio with Alay Bowker (model) & Amy (stylist).

I used a graduation map in photoshop to make the shadow area more black and pronounced. I also added a bit of green in the highlights with a touch of magenta in the shadows for subtle visual interest (even though it’s still technically a black & white image)

Fashion Model Portfolio

One of my favourite ways to light the subject is 45 degrees from behind. Not only does it add liveliness without bringing attention to anything distracting on the face, but it also ends up saturating the skin tone on the face/ body due to a stop down in exposure compared to the highlight area. I found this an easy way to manage a tan skin look throughout the retouching process.

Here are some photos with lovely model Anneliese from Anitanorris models.
Thank you to my awesome teammates as always :)

Anneliese (Anita Norris Models)
Sierra Elliott (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Fashion Modeling Photography

We had a fashion studio photoshoot with Ana not too long ago (@Chantale Nadeau/ NIWA models).
This time I used a silver reflective board to add visual interest to the background. I layered the graphics furthermore by putting a simple vivid red seamless paper on the floor, allowing the silver board to pick up a colourful reflection.

It’s always a bit of a challenge to create an exciting studio environment, but hopefully I can keep experimenting. Here is one of the images from the session shot using a film camera :)

Ana (Chantale Nadeau/ NIWA models)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)
Sherlyn Torres (HMUA)

Fashion Model Portrait

The other day, I set up a fashion shoot in my studio. I’ve decided to style the background loosely to add visual interest instead of using seamless paper this time. I will definitely pursue background styling more often in the near future, so keep an eye out for more experimentation :)

Here’s a favourite shot from the session below!

Anastasia (DULCEDO Models)
Vanessa Garland (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Fashion Model Headshots Film Photography

One of the challenging things about shooting film for me is the unpredictable result. To avoid being totally in the dark about the outcome, I arranged the lighting with a digital camera beforehand.

Most modern digital cameras have a rather high contrast setting as their default, while in film the contrast is flat and built up through the scanning process/altered in photoshop. This means as much as I aim for accuracy, there is somewhat of a difference between the pre-setting of the digital camera and the actual result of film.

For this recent beauty session, I built my studio lights with a low contrast setting in Capture One to simulate scanned film. I found it to be decently successful in achieving the scanned film look with a digital camera.

Here are my favourite images from the session ;)

Melissa Nolet (Chantale Nadeau/ Ciotti Models)
Windy Chiu (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Fashion Model Headshots Photography

I was thinking about changing the way I depict shadows lately. With that intention in mind, I set up a session in attempt to try out a new method in the studio.
I built up the lighting from a low key standpoint so that afterwards in post process, the shadow information remained in the mid tone range, making it possible to show plenty of details.

Here are my favourite shots from the session. Thank you as always to my awesome team mates :)

Annie (Lang Models)
Sherlyn Torres (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Fashion Editorial Model Headshots

Here’s a shot from a simple fashion shoot in my studio where we aimed for 5 outfits in total. I decided to use my medium format film camera for this session. It is still very challenging to scan film in my house since the process of preserving the stunning colour you get from film is a rather delicate one. I definitely need to keep up my exploration of new methods!

Aleksandra (Anitanorris Models)
Alyssa Manuel (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Model Headshot Photography

The other day I set up another fashion shoot in my studio. This time I arranged the lighting to present a less polished and sophisticated look, all the while keeping the impression clean enough to still be visually appealing. My reasoning behind doing so was to create a less stimulating (or in other words—less of a “studio look”) in attempt to achieve an organic feeling. I will keep my blog updated with different types of future lighting set ups.

Thank you as always to my awesome team mates and best wishes to the model, Liz, for an awesome career in modelling that awaits her.

Liz (Elite Models)
Sherlyn Torres (HMUA)
Michelle Davis (Stylist)

Fashion Portrait Photography

The other day we did a minimally styled fashion editorial in my studio.
I tried not to light the subject directly this time in hopes of creating a less stimulating look. The idea was to pair this low key lighting with a minimalist, organic vibe. I’ve attached some of my favourite shots from the session below.

Much appreciation to my awesome team for making things happen :)

Billie (Elmer Olsen Models)
Vanessa Garland (HMUA)
Felicia Ann Ryan (Stylist)
Heather Loduca (Stylist assistant)
Michelle Davis (Photography assistant)

Beauty Editorial Photography

I recently shot a beauty editorial story in my studio where I tested out my new toy (645 medium format film camera). The camera has auto focus and my favourite type of blur, plus the 16 images per each 120 roll is not so bad either ;) That’s pretty much the main reason I wanted to try it out.
The camera operation was smooth without any troubleshooting, so for now, I guess I will keep it!

Here’s one of the images from the session.

Thank you to everyone involved for making this one happen / kind & modest Melanie Jane (Model), and my talented teammates Windy Chiu (HMUA) and Michelle Davis (Stylist).