vogue post blumenfeld worried working Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 20: Portrait with Post

From that lovely serenity we move to something much more sexually charged! This has had a bit of a working over in post processing.

maja soft lighting applied windows Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 19: Portrait

Up to this point I had largely been shooting full or three-quarter length images with Maja. Clearly though her fine features, symmetrical face and perfectly applied makeup meant I should really make sure I got some portraits too.

props themes symbolic poses model Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 18: Simple Props

While props don't feature too often in my work I do like them because they give the model something to work with, which in turn gives them some different poses and themes.

practice ones location review learn Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 17: How do I learn to see?

I can tell you simply in three words "Practice. Shoot, Review". Then repeat this a few 1,000 times. When you first start taking photos you make all the usual mistakes, lamp posts out the top of peoples heads, distracting backgrounds, bad lighting.

maja lot shape million lines Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 16: Triangles and Leading Lines

The technical bit of photography really is the easy bit. The really important part is happening the in the equipment behind the camera - in your head.

surface horizontal camera walls visible Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 15: Changing Angles

Still shooting at 24mm this is what happens when you switch to a top down view. This emphases Maja's head and face and reduces the boots significantly in the frame.

AOP part 14: Shooting the Boots

I've already mentioned the boots. They really quite odd to look at as they seem to defy gravity According to Maja they are surprisingly comfortable and stable.

background gel tonal range photography Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 13: Coloured Gels - Different Gel

After playing with the blue gel creating the red environment I wanted to switch to a cooler, cinematic tone.

angle tilted tilt lines german Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 12: Dutch Angle

I'm a big fan of the "Dutch" angle - the tilted frame. At one time I would use an automated script to allow me to select images as shot and with a 20 degree tilt forward and backward.

maja tones skin darker contrast Simon Q. Walden, FilmPhotoAcademy.com, sqw, FilmPhoto, photography

AOP part 11: Colour Gels Post Processing

This is a closer image of Maja. I wanted to explore that high contrast look of the previous image. Here I used two layers, with the top layer blend mode set to "soft light".

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