aknacer's photostream  

Lighting: WhiteLightning X1600 Cam right into gridded beatutydish@f/11. WL800 cam right into Large silver umbrella cam right with BD for fill, f/4. WL800 below cam into med softbox @f/5.6 fill. AB800 behind model into BG for accent. Canon 580EXII cam left into hair @1/64 -rim. All fired via PW II.

A very special thank you to a great team of people who helped make this shot possible. Kim, Amber, Scot, Syed, & Zach. Everyone came together for a really great time, and a great learning experience.

This is actually something we threw together after doing our first shoot, which was conceptual. We had some time left over, and an amazing crew, so we decided to do a "beauty shoot".

We tried a few different ideas, and wound up grabbing my house plant and covering Amber with it. We also had a fan blowing on her to give her hair some movement, and somewhere between all of that and her contacts, her eyes started watering up.

No one could really see that she was crying, and she didn't say anything, because she was being so professional as a model. I only noticed her tear when going through the images afterwords. Something like that, had to be paid attention to. Beauty and Sadness.

Strobist Info: WhiteLightning X1600 into 7" reflector. sub left @5.6 fired via Pocketwizard.
Check out a larger version on my portfolio site

Thank you so much to the Phamily who helped create this image, you are as much a part of it as I am.

Phlearn.com

Jenny Su – A wonderful look on lighting and composition. A lot of things I would not have thought to do.
Paul L. – Brought up the idea of story telling, which is huge. The Story should be very clear in a photo.
Mark ODonnell – Spent a lot of time and energy analyzing the photo and gave some great insights.
Pat Mateos – A great look on composition, and suggestions on how to make the image FLOW.
Rochelle Marquette – Did a great job making clear the thoughts of the group and her own.
Sam Spratt - Color and Composition Control.
Darya - Fairy

The most special part about this image to me is that for the first time ever, I opened up an incomplete image to a wonderful community of people, who helped to coach me through it, as well as give amazing constructive criticism. Where is this community? Phlearn.com. If you are curious as to what this image looked like 1/2 done, check out episode 173. I also provide the complete PSD for you to download, so you can take it apart layer by layer.

Strobist: WhiteLightning X1600 into parabolic reflector above model @f/5.6. Fired via PW Plus II.

Yes, I totally realize in every way how this title is obviously promotional. I am totally ok with that, and you will be too. Because Phlearn is FREE.

I make 5 videos a week to help people get better at photoshop and photography. I put my heart into making every episode great. So it is with no shame that I promote something I know will help you.

phlearn.com/

About this Photo.
This photo is based on the concept of the Phoenix. In its beginning I wanted to go a lot more literal with a woman rising from the ashes and turning into a FireBird. As I got deep into my sketching and research, most of what I saw and drew looked way more comic book than what I wanted. The concept is important, but I wanted to add an element of fine art into it.

The model's name is Darya, and she has been through a lot in the last few months. She just moved to Chicago, and things didn't play out exactly as she'd hoped. Darya is strong. She doesn't let circumstance control her life. She is in the middle of a change, and like a Phoenix, she is shedding her old life, and bursting forth with a new life.

Note. This is a panorama, about 60 MegaPixels. Because Flickr is better suited to portrait vs lanscape orientation, it looks really small. You may view it larger on my Portfolio site if you are into that sort of thing.

Strobist: In the photo. WhiteLightning X800 cam left into 7"reflector w/20 degree grid @f/5.6. WhiteLightning X800 into med softbox cam left @8. Fired via Pocketwizards.

A little bit more went into this photo than might be apparent. I decided 2 weeks ago to learn how to 3d model and render. Boy it is a ton of work! I am learning my way around zbrush for modeling, Cinema 4d for scene set up, and Vray for rendering. All these programs are so powerful, it is amazing to have anything I want at my fingertips.

Right now I would say I am still at a very amateur level, but it will be great to get more experience 3d modeling & rendering. Once I have a better grasp on the process I will teach it for free on Phlearn.com. It is a great time bringing in polygons, and turning them into a finished photo. The color on this is so delicate, It seems to be right on about 2% of montiors.

I teach Photoshop and Photography FREE, DAILY Videos. Our goal is to help everyone be the best they can be. phlearn.com/

Strobist: WhiteLightning X1600 above model @f/9 into white umbrella. WhiteLightning X800 cam left into med. softbox @5.6. WhiteLighting X800 cam left into ceiling for fill. Fired via PWII.

I just posted a video of me going through the edit for this photo, check it out to learn how I did this!
plus.google.com/105267656376269695918/posts/PHqK7RAAxUC

This photo is dedicated to my amazing Tara. Tara and I have worked together on many shoots, and she is the best makeup artist in North Carolina. Since I moved to Chicago a couple of weeks ago, I have lost an amazing person and resource. Can't replace you girl.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the work of Sam Spratt www.samspratt.com/ and was totally blown away. You know the feeling when you see someone's work, and it kicks your ass into gear and makes you want to create? So I asked Sam if it would be ok to take inspiration from his work. He is a cool dude and said yes.

This is the result.

I am guessing that about 90% of this is drawn by hand with a wacom tablet. I am not very experienced in this area. It is so damn hard. This is about 500 layers and 30 hours of painting (I had to learn how) I recorded the entire thing and will be posting a time lapse video soon.

I know it has been a long time since I have done anything of quality. The time for that crap is over.

Special Thanks:
Tara DiPetrillo - Makeup & Model
www.taradipetrillo.com/blog/
Caroline Harmon - Drip Creation
Amelia Fletcher - Lighting Coordinator
Sam Spratt - Artistic Inspiration