I finally finished my travel pictures last week and can show the work I did after travelling. Two months after I came back I did a photo shoot with Sonja. It was inspired by the movie “The Fifth Element”. Sonja was great to work with. She was very open-minded, fun throughout the shoot and acted like a pro. I hardly ever use professional models for personal projects. There are so many interesting people out there that I just ask someone if I like his/her look.

How do I get my models? How do I approach people?

Let me explain it with this very example: I was out with friends one night and saw a girl with a wig who reminded me totally of Leeloo (played by Milla Jovovich) in the movie “The Fifth Element”. Before she left the club I approached her and told her, that I loved the look and that it reminded me of that movie. I explained that I was a photographer and would love to do a shooting. Normally I would give her one of my business cards but that night I didn’t have them with me.

My business cards are from moo.com. They are really handy because it is possible to print up to 50 different motives on the front side. As I usually carry about 15-20 cards on me they are like a little portfolio on hand when I need it.

Did I ask for her number? No, that would be too cheesy, especially in a club. I told her that I would send her my homepage address so she can get an impression of my work if she gives me her e-mail.

That’s about it. She liked my work, got back to me with her contact details, we met one more time to talk about the shooting and shortly after we took the pictures.

Things to keep in mind when you approach people:

  • Be friendly,
  • Say why you want to take pictures of them,
  • Explain the project and
  • Give examples of your work.

Layout

The shooting layout was quite simple. I used two 400Ws strobes in front with softboxes (one as main light, the other as fill) and one 300Ws strobe to overexpose the backdrop.

20130217-LightingDiagram

Picture Editing

After some minor adjustments in Lightroom I edited the picture in Photoshop. I removed blemishes, evened out the skin and added some hair in the gaps. I used the Liquify Tool to get rid of the hanging shirt in the back and adjust her belly. Don’t get me wrong! Sonja is awesome and totally slim but due to her bending backwards there was this small bump which I wanted to get rid of. I then reimported the picture to Lightroom to add the final colour and tone adjustments. Here is a before and after comparison: