Sneak Peek of the Swedish

Llywellyn

Well, very, very slowly I'm getting around to culling and processing images from my long vacation in Scandinavia and Russia. Eventually there will be a Journeys thread of the whole ordeal, but I could not keep my hands off the model session I set up for my last day in Sweden.

This is Hellen, one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure to photograph. With her broken English and my utter lack of Swedish, we still communicated very well and had a great time during the whirlwind two hours we had in Gamla Stan before I boarded a train to the airport.

She's thrilled with the set, and I'm steadily making my way through them. It's tough to cull with beauty like this! But this may be my favorite from the entire session, so I could not resist processing it first.



More to come (eventually, I swear).

Thanks for stopping by! :thumb

Wil Davis

Mmm…

The Eyes are The Windows of The Soul:

…well, sorry but she may well be one of the most beautiful woman etc. etc. but I don't think this picture does her justice. She's squinting, and perhaps that was the intent, but I don't think it's flattering… …in fact I think she looks as if she's planning something nefarious… …better watch out!

Hey, that's just my first impressions… …no insult intended

- Wil

heatherfeather

Well in MY opinion....

This IS GORGEOUS!

I simply adore the leaves and your dof.

So your turn... which lens and f#?

Also... have you made a preset of your processing????????
(I want it.)


I cant wait to see the rest of this set. She is a knockout!

Llywellyn

Wil Davis wrote:

...She's squinting, and perhaps that was the intent, but I don't think it's flattering… …in fact I think she looks as if she's planning something nefarious… …better watch out! l

Haha! Her eyes are naturally a bit squinty, actually (puffy lower lid), but I agree with you about the nefarious intent. I just thought it looked seductive.

heatherfeather wrote:

Well in MY opinion....

Aw, thanks, Heather. I personally can't wait to finish processing this set either.

EXIF: 1/200, 50/1.4 at f/4.0, ISO 200, natural light.

Er, you know, I don't actually have set processing...I just play around with stuff until it looks pretty. This one was a free LR preset I found somewhere while bored this weekend. PM me your e-mail and I'll happily forward it.

Wil Davis

Llywellyn wrote:

…snip
I just thought it looked seductive.

Seductive is exactly the right word, especially with that Mona Lisa smile!

I thought the skin tones are great, and as I said before, my previous comments were first impressions!

Thanks for sharing (I'm looking forward to seeing the other pics )

- Wil

VayCayMom

Very lovely!! Love the PP!!!

divamum

I am SERIOUSLY in love with the processing (can I have a link to it too? Pretty pretty please? )

Love the way you've nestled her into the leaves, and the come-hither look and beautifully relaxed hand position are gorgeous.

I think my nit is that, although you used a 50mm lens, I find ever such a slight distortion which makes her head seem bigger than her body. It isn't, it just seems that way to me.

Can't WAIT to see more of this set!!

Travis

Kerry, this is stunning! I love the pose, expression, and framing. The post work is great. Did you do a lot of skin smoothing or is her complexion naturally that smooth?

Llywellyn

VayCayMom wrote:

Very lovely!! Love the PP!!!

Thank you!

divamum wrote:

I am SERIOUSLY in love with the processing (can I have a link to it too? Pretty pretty please? ) ... I find ever such a slight distortion which makes her head seem bigger than her body.

Happy to share the preset, but it's way easier for me to e-mail than to find where the heck I DL'd it from again. Plus, it came within a set that has a HUGE amount of crap in it, so I'd like to pass along the one jewel instead of 50 useless ones that I'll be deleting.

And now that I stare at it, I see what you mean about the distortion. I wonder if it's more to do with the DOF than the lens...I haven't noticed this effect before.

Travis wrote:

Kerry, this is stunning! I love the pose, expression, and framing. The post work is great. Did you do a lot of skin smoothing or is her complexion naturally that smooth?

Aw, thanks, Travis. Her complexion was AWESOME! This is the least amount of skin work I've ever had to do on someone, and it was a real treat not to have to spend time on that. I cloned out one zit, lightened her naturally puffy lower lids a bit, and smoothed her visible cheek with the Kelby technique I always use, except I lowered the opacity of the smoothing layer more than usual since she didn't need that much. ...I should ask her about her skincare regimen.

whiterice

This is VERY nice Kerry. You're right, she's gorgeous, and "nefarious" is the perfect word for her expression.

BTW - whether intentional or not, the beautiful woman with the nefarious expression surrounded by greenery - I can't help but identify a well-known religious reference.