Last week I photographed Russian beauty Katerina with friend and stylist Molly Bridger.
With shoots like this one, lighting is everything. I work much better when its overcast and cloudy so I don't have to deal with harsh sun light that can bleach out photos if your settings aren't altered.
Here's one of my edits that works as a good example of what f/stop/ISO/shutter speed you should be looking at in a shoot similar to this one.
F/stop - 5
Exposure - 1/500 sec.
ISO - 125
Focal Length - 50mm
This shot is maybe slightly too light but with the right adjustments the exposure can work.
This was a summer shoot with a moody twist so bringing out the blues and cyan tones was important, especially in this images where there are no dominant colors and only dark/light shading. I also added a hint of green on the rocks and dress which helps merge all the colors together.
Then there's adjusting the shadows and making the dark areas darker and light areas lighter.
Here is where the 'Curves' setting on Photoshop/GIMP is your best friend.
You can find curves in either 'Adjustments' or by right clicking then going to Colors > curves. It's really just a matter of experimenting until your happy with how your photo looks.
The final touches include smoothing over blemishes with a combination of the smudge tool and paintbrush tool, then burning in areas (eyes, eyebrows, hair line, etc.) that should be darker using the Dodge/Burn tool.
That's a very basic low down on what goes into an image. This shot didn't take much work before I was happy with it, other images can be a bit more tricky. Tomorrow I'll post more on adjusting hair color and posing/back drops.
Rach
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