Bikini shoot

Owen · July 21, 2005

Lauren and I grew up together. She's now an aspiring model. We've decided we'll become famous together. She needed her portfolio updated, and I'm making a portfolio so we went out for as shoot. She's more gorgeous then I knew. I didn't have a play the posing wait game with her, she got right into it.

Damn lens flare. Before I realised, a drop of water from her hair had hit the lens. About 10 or so shots, including this one, were ruined.

Thanks for looking. Hope no one is offended.

Nikolai · July 21, 2005

Awesome!
Great model! Man, you're in luck:-)

(I like the second shot best, first has some lighting issues, but she's nice in both:-)
Bring some more!

Owen · July 21, 2005

Nikolai wrote:

(I like the second shot best, first has some lighting issues, but she's nice in both:-)

Can you elaborate so I can learn in the future?

gluwater · July 21, 2005

:jawdrop

I also like the second shot better overall but I like her eyes in the first shot, they are bright blue and are well complimented by her top. I think the background of the first shot is maybe too bright. In the first shot she was facing away from the sun so her eyes were wide open, which I like because she has very beautiful eyes, but it also left her in shadows. I think you could compensate for this by useing a flash or reflectors. But then again I have never done anything like this so I may be talking out of my :moon. Does any of what I said make sense?
Nick

Higgmeister · July 21, 2005

Hi Owen,

Owen wrote:

Can you elaborate so I can learn in the future?

First off, You lucky dog you:D. I like both poses, but I think it's the lighting on her shoulder and arms that seem too bright. I also see a lens flare (or something like that) on her left (our right) wrist area. I like the backlighting in the hair on #1 and her expression in both shots.

What PP did you do for her, if any. Definitely a beautiful model. I have a problem with her right hand pose as it looks contorted. Some of this seems to come from the fact that she is so thin so maybe a different angle with the hand/wrist.

Thanks for sharing (gonna share some more, won't you?),
Chris

PeterGar · July 21, 2005

Offended? How could anyone be offended at these pictures? Very nice!

dragon300zx · July 21, 2005

What lense flare drop of water are you talking about. All I see is :jawdrop . The first one has super harsh shadowing on her. Her eyes are amazing in this shot but the brightness from behind on the right is causing some blow out. Not a super big deal however to fix it you would have had to use a reflector or a flash (strobe light or flash like a sigma super or a 580ex) to provide even fill light from the front. God you are lucky to get to practice with her.

OK Now that it was pointed out I see the lense flare. But again who notices that right away. Look at her.

Higgmeister · July 21, 2005

I'll be very offended

PeterGar wrote:

Offended? How could anyone be offended at these pictures? Very nice!

If Owen doesn't post more. I have to agree with others above about the eyes in the first, kinda hidden in the second.

Chris

DRT-Maverick · July 21, 2005

Not sure if something's wrong with my computer or something, but the photos aren't showing up at all.

gluwater · July 21, 2005

Uh oh... she heard us talking about her and now she's shy and is hiding.

Sam · July 21, 2005

OK......quick, someone tell me how to sign up for the Bikini viwing option.

Sam

Nikolai · July 21, 2005

Sure

Owen wrote:

Can you elaborate so I can learn in the future?

What Dragon said:-)
Cheers!

Thiago Sigrist · July 21, 2005

Yup, I agree with everyone here...
that the photos would benefit from some fill flash, reflectors or even shooting with overcast weather (so that you wouldn't get that harsh sunlight). That said, this is often the problem with *my* outdoor photos as well, so I gotta pay more attention to that.
Even so, I think your photos are great in almost every other way, aside from the fact that I'm still looking for that lens flare, heheheh... If the subject was a little less erm... distracting, I could probably find it...

Thanks so much for sharing, Owen!
I'm looking forward to seeing more from you, not only because of the good looking model, but more because your shots are really nice!

Take care!

-- thiago

dragon300zx · July 21, 2005

Thi,

man that lense flare was hard to find. Look at her left hand (very hard spot to focus on I know) its kinda right above her wrist there.

theroo · July 21, 2005

Oh thats where
Had to look for over 15 minutes to find the lens flare finally got to the wrist.
Share more, like the pics

mel · July 21, 2005

OK, here is my $0.02:
1st pic:
Eyes are great, play them up! Color of her top excellent choice. Background too busy especially with the pattern of her top. Change rt hand position, looks awkward.
2nd pic:
?change camera angle so she's glancing up and toward you (will make eyes look bigger and bring out color more). Brutally honest suggestion: add inserts to swimsuit top for a little more lift and curve.

Thanks for the post!
~mel

JamesJWeg · July 21, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

Not sure if something's wrong with my computer or something, but the photos aren't showing up at all.

Same here

James.

Owen · July 22, 2005

You wanted more...

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Owen · July 22, 2005

gluwater wrote:

I think you could compensate for this by useing a flash or reflectors. But then again I have never done anything like this so I may be talking out of my :moon. Does any of what I said make sense?
Nick

It does make sense... and that's exactly what I did. I was shooting with a fill flash (hot shoe) and using a homemade reflector. It was hard to aim the reflector and shoot at the same time -- I need an assistant! :P Part of the reason her eyes are so bright is because of the reflector.

Thanks for the feedback. It does make sense, and yes that is what you would do-- so much sense that I did it! :P

Owen

Owen · July 22, 2005

Higgmeister wrote:

What PP did you do for her, if any. Definitely a beautiful model. I have a problem with her right hand pose as it looks contorted. Some of this seems to come from the fact that she is so thin so maybe a different angle with the hand/wrist.

Hey Chris,

First of all, thanks for the CC and observations. I knew about the lens flare-- from a droplet of water. About 10 *really* good shots were ruined because of it. We're planning on doing shoots every 3 or 4 weeks to keep her portfolio up to date-- and because we enjoy it tremendously.

"so thin"? She'd laugh if you told her she was thin. Infact, modelling agencies have turned her down because she's too big and not toned enough. She's stunning in my eyes. The life of a model is harsh and ruthless.

I did a bit of healing here and there mainly to even out tan lines, remove some small blemishes and I actually touched up her mouth. She tends to bite her lip with her incisors so I removed the glimpse of her tooth.

I duplicated the layer and brought the levels way up and set the blend mode to multiply and did some gaussian blur (between 2 and 10), and then heavily USM the original layer (200-400). If the noise is pretty harsh I run it through Neat Image. I find using the skin as the sample you can really smooth them out and get that "model" affect. I also adjusted the saturation to make it look more "magazine".

Owen · July 22, 2005

mel wrote:

Brutally honest suggestion: add inserts to swimsuit top for a little more lift and curve.l

Hehehe. Or do some photoshopping.

She's the first to admit she's a bit.. erm... small.

Thanks, Mel.

Owen

Owen · July 22, 2005

more of Lauren...

Lens flare.

DRT-Maverick · July 22, 2005

I'm jealous of your photographic skills. Those photographs are amazing!

Maestro · July 22, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

I'm jealous of your photographic skills. Those photographs are amazing!

I'm just jealous that he knows Lauren! She is a beauty! Great shots!

gluwater · July 22, 2005

Owen wrote:

.... It was hard to aim the reflector and shoot at the same time -- I need an assistant! :P Part of the reason her eyes are so bright is because of the reflector.
Owen

One assistant, willing to travel every 3-4 weeks. Call me at 1-800-2AS-SIST.:D

Owen · July 22, 2005

I'm glad most of you have realistic critiques.

Someone at dpreview told me that they're "over processed" and "barbie smooth"... too bad that's how she is naturally.

Steve Cavigliano · July 22, 2005

Owen wrote:

I'm glad most of you have realistic critiques.

Someone at dpreview told me that they're "over processed" and "barbie smooth"... too bad that's how she is naturally.

She's a beauty Owen and you did a nice job capturing her

thumb

As far as the "over-processed" comment, I don't see it.

She has beautiful eyes. So please take this with a grain of salt. In some of the pics they (her eyes) look unnaturally light and lacking contrast. Almost as if you brightened them during post. Which is not a bad thing. I do it occassionally also. But the lack of contrast bothers me. If you didn't brighten the eyes, then please disregard my comment

Lucky you to have a beautiful friend like Lauren to pose for you

Steve

Owen · July 22, 2005

Another.

(yes, I know the eyes are bit extreme :P)

DJ-S1 · July 22, 2005

Thanks for posting these, Owen. I think you did a very good job!

I was wondering if you would consider posting an original, untouched shot from this series into the "Photoshop" section. I'd be interested to see what some of the PS gurus do to it and to see different takes on the same image.

Thiago Sigrist · July 22, 2005

*Really* good stuff Owen!
Those are my faves so far, pretty good lighting in them, I assume this is due to the use of reflectors, since there aren't any hard shadows or something like that on her body.

Also, her skin doesn't really look over-processed nor it has any Barbie/plastic look. I see a very beliavable skin texture on them, and that's what I like!

Thanks so much again for keeping us posted!
Take care!

-- thiago

Owen wrote:

Owen · July 23, 2005

Thiago Sigrist wrote:

Also, her skin doesn't really look over-processed nor it has any Barbie/plastic look.
-- thiago

Hi Thiago,

Thanks for your honest critiques. The first picture you liked the most was the one that Michiel de Briede decided was overprocessed and "plastic". I posted an unprocessed version (for the most part) and he thought it was much better. IMO, it isn't suitable for her portfolio. Whatever! It's up to her anyways!

One of my favorites:

Owen

Bikini shoot

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