Featured Photographer – Dee Asuncion

1. Tell us a bit about the image?
the image was taken during an open shoot event at a cemetery in the Philippines. there are a lot of photographers and we took turns on shooting a model I personally knew the model and I just love how that dress looks on her. I saw that the old church would be a great background as i “framed” her on it.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?
I am a fan of old victorian/gothic look although this is not exactly like that. I knew that I could make it look better in post so I took the chance to take the shot. I actually asked the model to just wave the dress as I took quick burst shots.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?
I was just using a Canon 7D and a 50mm 1.4. just ambient light.

4. Tell us about the editing process?
actually, this image was done during a paid one on one tutorial on creative post-processing and retouching that I offer to my clients so it was a lot of fun. I first took out some distraction from the background, like the girl sitting on the left, some wires, and I placed a sky overlay so that those white skies won’t be a distraction. I took a step further by blurring the background a bit. I also adjusted some contrast and then “killed” some colours like blue, aqua, and greens to let the reds pop out. and then I game it some vignette and lots of dodging and burning to put some local depth on the texture of the dress. Finally, of course, some sharpening for web upload. all of which done with Adobe Photoshop

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?
personally, my style has always been the subject just pop out. I always wanted the viewer to look at the subject and stay there. it also reflects my desire for dark and dramatic portraits.

check out my works at https://www.facebook.com/fishonwater and @davidasuncionjr at IG