Sony A7 + Monique(Photography breakdown)
1/800 f1.8 iso800
Before I approached this shoot , I had a plan to shoot with a very controlled artificial light. I had my flashes and triggers ready to be great!! But the natural light coming through the 12 foot windows at 12pm on a cloudy day at Cam Kirk Studios was too dope for me to ignore. Couple that with the dynamic range of the Sony A7 and this was the outcome.
Portraiture started with painters. Painters like Rembrant(Who painted before electricity was invented) used window light to create their masterpieces. Every dope photographer channels Rembrant when it comes to portraits. The softness of window light and the shadows it creates is my favorite type of light.
Monique has been a muse of mine for years. We've semi mastered the art of shooting portraits. We get better and better each time we shoot. Her makeup was GREAT. I did not use photoshop to process these pics. I only used Adobe lightroom. I have photoshop ..I can use photoshop...But my "photography philosophy" is that photoshop shouldn't be used for portraits. Capturing the natural image of a person is what high end portraiture is about. Because I don't like to use photoshop , poses and lighting are important. If someone has something they want to hide you can easily fix it with poses and lighting. . I was so in the moment during the shoot, that I forgot to adjust my white balance to a warmer color. I used Adobe Lightroom to split tone the images to a warmer tone. IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS SHOOT IN RAW FORMAT!! Raw takes up more memory but it gives you A LOT more room to edit colors and etc. ..Again, these pictures are not photoshopped ..Meaning I did not smooth her skin out or liquify her.. This is all Monique's good bahamian genes , exercise and a great makeup artist!!
