photo shoot 4`4`2011

A few days ago, I once again had the pleasure of shooting with the one and only Melissa Misfortune. For those of you who follow my work with any regularity you will remember her from my ‘heart in your hand‘ concept a few month back. This time, she provided a fabulously funky fruit filled fashion, I provided the crates and camera. Hit the link below the photo to read more and see the behind the scenes stuff, don’t forget to click the photos to see them full screen if you are having trouble viewing them (on a lap top for example)…

For my loyal readers who are so inclined, I will get the technical stuff out of the way first. Everyone else, scroll down to the next paragraph… The set up was fairly simple. I knew that i wanted bright, high-key light on a white background, this would make putting her onto a blue gradient easier and I wanted this to feel bright, sunny and to really pop. I started with my large white seamless paper backdrop pulled way out. I illuminated this with two ProFoto D1’s in parabolic reflectors, fairly standard issue. For my key light I chose the Profoto 5′ Octabox with another D1. I added a Profoto strip box with yet another D1 to give her a nice highlight and create a cross lighting situation. The foam core boards help keep the background lights from spilling onto her and I attached a black cloth on one side to block reflections and give some shadow to half the frame.

Okay, now that we are all back together, lets talk some more about how this shoot went down…

When Melissa told me about this concept she had for her fruit dress, she described it to me as very loud, neon green and covered in lemons and orange slices. Something very ’60’s or ’70’s and slightly Edward Scissor hands.  She made an orange and lemon hair clip and would do a riff on the traditional bee-hive hair style. I loved the idea…

It always makes my job easier when my models have some experience and like to be in front of the camera, Melissa is super easy to work with, a natural in front of the camera. Having worked together before helps too, since I have a grasp on how best to pose her and she is used to my personality quirks.

This is one of my favorite images from the shoot. I love the white glasses, shoes and background. In combination with her fair skin and dark hair, the colors really pop. I think the sunny feel really comes across in this one. This shoot, in my opinion, has a really nice commercial edge. If anyone reading this wants to license any of my images to market orange juice or something, please let me know.

The images posted here are only the first round of edits, there are a ton more to come. I am working on putting more of them onto the blue gradient, I love the look and think it really compliments the color palette of this shoot; however, photoshop can take some time.

As a parting shot, here is Melissa and I after the shoot, photo compliments of Sam Minkler. Melissa is about 4’11”, I am about 6’4”, kind of funny to see us next to each other. Also, for the observant viewer; yes, i do shoot bare foot as much as possible, it just feels better and frees me up to think about other stuff.

Lots more good stuff to come soon, make sure you check out the ‘photography‘ section of this site, I have been revamping it significantly in the last week. Once this shoot is completely processed look for the complete slide show there. Also coming soon thevisualcollective v2.0 trip to Zion National Park, can’t wait….