My Sunday series about outdoor portraiture continues today with a portrait of Shannelle, a model I photographed once during a group model shoot in Phoenix. Arizona.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
I discovered cosplay because I was going to an anime convention and did some research, and found out people dressed up as characters. I made a very badly put-together costume because I felt this desire to dress up.—Yaya Han
This portrait might fall under the general category of cosplay, since Shannelle was wearing—or partially wearing—a UPS driver’s uniform. My UPS driver, Hermie, never looked this attractive but I always appreciate the careful way he handles my packages, especially when I’m receiving a new (or old) camera.
As an aside, I have a Password Protected post that’s related to the subject of cosplay and it’s only available to my supporters on Patreon. If you would like to know how to access these uncensored posts, here’s a link to my most recent post of the subject.
How I Made this Portrait
I only got to photograph Shannelle this one time but it was one of the most fun photo sessions I ever had at a group model shoot. This feeling had a lot to do with her sparkling personality and they way she engaged in posing when I asked her to “play” with her clothes.
During many glamour photography sessions, depending on the model and what she’s wearing, I’ll suggest that they “play” with her clothes, tugging at or removing parts of them and that’s the kind of posing suggestion that produced the image at right. During this process the subject is totally in control of what happens and they can stop anytime they want, before they start feeling uncomfortable. Why? It’s simple: When a model is comfortable with the salutation, the photographs are always better.
I photographed Shannelle using a Canon EOS D60 and an EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM lens (at 105mm.) The lens has been manufacturer discontinued but you can pick up new and used copies from many sources, including KEH Camera, Used Photo Pro and Amazon. The exposure was 1/60 sec at f/5 and ISO 200 with a plus one-third stop exposure compensation.
After opening the JPEG file in Photoshop, I chose not to crop the portrait but while the cropping was SOOC I made some slight adjustments in color balance using PictoColor’s iCorrect Portrait Photoshop-compatible plug-in along with some burning (right) and dodging (left) that was applied with PhotoKit. The image was slightly tweaked in Vivenza to control contrast and was finished by adding a layer of Glamour Glow from Color Efex.
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The original title of my book Posing for Portrait and Glamour Photography was The ABC’s of Portrait Posing. On this blog there are many posts about posing. Use the Search box in the upper right-hand corner and type “posing” to find some appropriate posts. If you want something more lasting, take a look at my book that’s available new from Amazon for $29.95 or used starting around twenty-five bucks, as I write this. The Kindle version is $28.45 for those who prefer a digital format.