Beauty Portraits: Celestina Tiew @ Punggol

Zeckson · July 27, 2009

Had an opportunity to work with Celestina, our very own Singapore FHM Girls Next Door 2009 winner, on a conceptual shoot of something nobody has yet tried. I had been thinking about the concept for months and had discussed ideas and execution with Celestina way back. Only at the beginning of July 2009 then we had a chance to actualize our ideas...

We basically want something different from the norm, perhaps introducing a little fantasy into the shoot. I decided on a Goddess theme like those of the Japanese anime. Initially an fallen angel was chosen and I even bought a pair of wings for Celestina but the wings didn't fit well and looked too flimzy, so we dropped the wings and amend the theme to the Goddess...

I even spent 2 days going to the same location and made observations as to the timing of the day where the light is best. I found my spots. I am ready! Unfornately on the day of the shoot, things were not that smooth and I lost my beautiful light. Anyway, here are some shots that I managed to pull off. Not quite what I wanted but... Well... What the heck!

In case that you are not able to view the images for some reasons, you can click on my Flick link to see them all:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeckson/sets/72157621843305234/

Zeckson · July 27, 2009

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And this is where the full frame cameras will win hard edge. I am only holding onto a Nikon D80, guess I have to live with the noise...

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Here is Celestina having her little "supper" with Zec! Hee hee hee...

Zeckson · July 27, 2009

Thank you for viewing my images. Special thanks to the beautiful Celestina for being my photo model for this conceptual shoot.

rwells · July 27, 2009

There's a lot of images to absorb, but let me just say:

Wow, I wish I took them

Zeckson · July 27, 2009

rwells wrote:

There's a lot of images to absorb, but let me just say:

Wow, I wish I took them

Thanks for your comments.

Joe Dukovac · July 27, 2009

Hey Zeck,

Could you please share how you do your lighting? It just awesome and I would love to know how you achieve this.

Thanks,
Joe

Zeckson · July 27, 2009

Joe Dukovac wrote:

Hey Zeck,

Could you please share how you do your lighting? It just awesome and I would love to know how you achieve this.

Thanks,
Joe

The main idea is to know how to balance the light. In these images, I am balancing the ambient lights, which in this case, the sun and the clouds are my ambient lights. I balance the light with my flashes.

I used 1 x SB-900, 1 x SB-800 and 2 x SB-600 for these images. Main light is shot using a shoot-through umbrella. Side lights are fired with light diffusers and sometimes bare flashes.

Andi Nicole · July 28, 2009

Sweetness!
These are amazing!! What a cool look and I totally love it. Thanks for sharing about your lighting because I was going to ask that too. I'm looking to buy a speedlite for my Canon but I dont know what to get! So many choices

I would love to try to shoot something like this.....hopefully someday. Keep up the wonderful work!

Zeckson · July 28, 2009

Andi Nicole wrote:

These are amazing!! What a cool look and I totally love it. Thanks for sharing about your lighting because I was going to ask that too. I'm looking to buy a speedlite for my Canon but I dont know what to get! So many choices I would love to try to shoot something like this.....hopefully someday. Keep up the wonderful work!

Thank you for your comments. All the best to your choice of flashes!

narancs · July 28, 2009

jawdropping pictures

every one of them gave me goosebumps

Ed911 · July 28, 2009

I'm onboard...two thumbs up. Quite nice. Great lighting.

Thanks for sharing.

customminds · July 28, 2009

good job... please share your workflow.

VayCayMom · July 29, 2009

Very nice, as always, I enjoy your posts.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

narancs wrote:

jawdropping pictures
every one of them gave me goosebumps

Thanks for your comments.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

Ed911 wrote:

I'm onboard...two thumbs up. Quite nice. Great lighting.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your comments.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

customminds wrote:

good job... please share your workflow.

Thanks for writing, I'm afraid I cannot do that. Nobody would share their post process workflow with anybody or their shooting details or lighting setups.

However, I can give you some comments on your works to help you.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

VayCayMom wrote:

Very nice, as always, I enjoy your posts.

Thanks for your comments.

Richard · July 29, 2009

Zeckson wrote:

Thanks for writing, I'm afraid I cannot do that. Nobody would share their post process workflow with anybody or their shooting details or lighting setups.

However, I can give you some comments on your works to help you.

Hey Zeckson,

This seems like a strange comment to me. Do you look at other posts on Dgrin? They are full of tips, explanations and even tutorials. That's one of the great things about this forum. If you are afraid of revealing trade secrets, that's your choice, but I think what makes photographers successful is having an original and consistent vision, not a particular set of camera settings, steps in Photoshop or light setup.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

Richard wrote:

Hey Zeckson,

This seems like a strange comment to me. Do you look at other posts on Dgrin? They are full of tips, explanations and even tutorials. That's one of the great things about this forum. If you are afraid of revealing trade secrets, that's your choice, but I think what makes photographers successful is having an original and consistent vision, not a particular set of camera settings, steps in Photoshop or light setup.

Agree with you, Richard. But you also need to look at it again, although I do not wish to reveal my trade secrets, I am willing to help whoever to improve on their levels. I am not shutting myself away.

Post me an image and ask me a question and I will answer.

Also, Richard, while sharing in a community is good, no photographer will be willing to entirely reveal all his/her setups and workflow to anybody. If everybody is doing the same thing as the photographer, he would have to drink water to survive. You also need to look into the situations of photographers earning a living from photography.

AND, I am willing to help those who need help on their own images.

torags · July 29, 2009

I thought your lighting was good on all of them (except perhaps the left hand in #13)

A good concept, beauty in the reeds...

C'mon be honest with us.... Is she from outer space or they contacts....

Angelo · July 29, 2009

When I first saw this post I was impressed with the imagery and thought to myself that I had seen this type of work before.

I wanted to find reference to the work of other photographers before coming back to comment so I could bolster my compliment of your work.

Your comments above however leave me a bit more than disappointed. This is a healthy, friendly, vibrant community of artists who make their visits here an exercise in learning as well as sharing.

Amateur and professional alike display an open willingness to share tips and techniques to help others grow and evolve to be the best they can be.

You may have every right to squirrel away your so called "trade secrets" but in a community setting such as this I fear you'll find yourself on the outskirts of the community.

.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

torags wrote:

I thought your lighting was good on all of them (except perhaps the left hand in #13)

A good concept, beauty in the reeds...

C'mon be honest with us.... Is she from outer space or they contacts....

Ha ha ha ha. Thanks for your comments.

Zeckson · July 29, 2009

Angelo wrote:

When I first saw this post I was impressed with the imagery and thought to myself that I had seen this type of work before.

I wanted to find reference to the work of other photographers before coming back to comment so I could bolster my compliment of your work.

Your comments above however leave me a bit more than disappointed. This is a healthy, friendly, vibrant community of artists who make their visits here an exercise in learning as well as sharing.

Amateur and professional alike display an open willingness to share tips and techniques to help others grow and evolve to be the best they can be.

You may have every right to squirrel away your so called "trade secrets" but in a community setting such as this I fear you'll find yourself on the outskirts of the community.

.

Angelo, first, thanks for your comments about the images.

Second, we are still onto this sharing thing? Ha ha ha ha. Thanks for writing. I think your points have been elaborated by Richard in previous postings and I had already expressed my views about it. Again, I shall repeat that I am willing to share and help members to improve on their photos. While what you said are valid, I think they do not elevate any further than what Richard had already done.

Shall we move on with the photo appreciation and drop this little "argument" here?

Beauty Portraits: Celestina Tiew @ Punggol

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