Ringing in the Holiday's

The beauty of the holidays...(besides the obvious) is that I have time to work on some creative and no-pressure projects (i.e. no one is paying me or taking a once in a lifetime step - so i don't have to worry about screwing it up!). Today I brought over two gorgeous friends of mine, Beth and Erin, and set em loose in front of the camera - and look what they did:

Honestly - give these ladies minimal guidance, set up some lights like the SB 800 as the main light in the lastolite 15x15 softbox - and they created such astounding beauty. Erin is here playing in my curtains, backlit by the sun - frontlit with studiolights and Sepia done in post.

Here she is looking uber-tough - done with a SB800 gelled with full cut CTO - taped off to create some irregular shadows (off high camera left) and a SB 600 dialed down three stops from the main light set about 5 feet off camera right and shot into a gold reflector that is in front of her face. What I love about this shot is that she is clearly on the move, and the reflection in her glasses gives a sensation of urban life.

And Beth - sat her down on a rickety old porch chair in the freezing cold with some directional natural light filling in her face - evened it out using the softbox 45 degrees camera left and up high - and look at those eyes - gorgeous -

And Erin in fur...

And the pair. Too bad I made Erin look like Santa Claus here - but hey - she's pulling it off.

our parting shots today - getting cozy - erin in her usual spot - curled up with a book - what I love about this shot is of course the lines, but also that you are spying in on her - capturing a fleeting moment of sun flowing in on a Sunday afternoon -