This is basically my first photoshoot with a model who I didn’t know before. I found Wura on Starnow.co.uk, which is a decent website where it’s possible to find models for TFP (Time For Print) shoots. I wouldn’t pay for a model at this point, not unless I get paid for a commission :).
Wura is an incredible model. Even if she is just 18 years old, she already has taken part to several professional photoshoots, so she could just teach me what to do. She recently moved from Lagos, so she is looking for opportunities here in the UK and that’s why she asked me to take some photos of her. My plan is always to meet the model some time before the shoot, so we can know each other and study what to do. During the first meeting I could already notice how natural she is in front of the camera. However eventually the plans didn’t go like I initially thought and at the last minute Wura asked me to add a friend of her in the photoshoot. I was already sure that I wouldn’t have been able to direct properly two models, also because I didn’t have a clue of what to do :). At least the idea of the shooting was clear, we wanted to make something very colourful and playful (Also because Timmy is just 16 years old).
So scratched the plans to do some glamour/fashion shoots, we decided to look for some colourful background and use the harsh light of the sun directly. This is because we wanted full contrast and saturation. Of course we waited until when the sun was low and the result, after all, is good.
The only problem, that I still need to figure out, is that even if the shooting speed of the camera was quite fast, many photos resulted blurry. I think it’s due to the way I hold the camera, but I have the impression that it has also something to do with the In-body shake reduction system of Pentax. More tests will help me to verify it.
Regarding the post process, I obviously used the frequency separation technique. However I decided to buy the cheap Ultimate Retouch Panel, which turned out to be very professional, easy to use and powerful. I used several techniques (to learn), this is why the results are not consistent. Also I didn’t retouch properly all the images, otherwise it would have taken ages to finish.
I used only natural light, the Pentax 50mm 1.4 lens and the Tamron 70-200 2.8 lens. Enjoy:
