1. Tell us a bit about the image?
We walked in the forest with the model, when we saw this bench in the middle of the road. Just the place was beautiful with the dead leaves all around. I turned around the bench looking for the right position for the light and the background. I positioned the model and I took 3 pictures to have the good one

2. What inspired you to take the shot?
Our theme was, at the base, a session in the forest with the colours of autumn in the style that I am fond of which is the sweetness and valorization of the model. The place was really appropriate.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?
I used a Nikon D850 and a Sigma Art 135 mm 1.8 lens. Iso: 250 – F2.2 – 1 / 160s Natural light only

4. Tell us about the editing process?
I opened the Raw with Lightroom and proceeded to the different settings of contrasts and brightness. Then on photoshop, skin retouching, work on the colours of autumn with saturation, selective correction and brightness. I voluntarily more exposed the face of the model to contrast with the warm colours of the forest.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?
I do not feel like an artist. I do not have that pretence. But when I take a picture I must feel an emotion, the model must be valued. I like people to feel the same way by looking at my photos

https://www.facebook.com/Chris.Chrisall
https://www.instagram.com/chrisal_color/

1. Tell us a bit about the image?
This portrait was taken during last winter at Kolkata, India. She is a 78 years old footpath dweller and works as a garbage collector. She lost her husband as well as her child at a very early age. He had to face lots of mental as well as physical torture during her whole journey. She is now alone and homeless as well.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?
Actually I am a Humanitarian Documentary Photography lover, I like to do conversation with those people who have nothing. Actually the cruel reality of our country is so harsh. I always try to feel the pathetic pain of those people, these literally helps me to learn a lot from them, their story inspires me a lot, every day to click.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?
I used Canon 700D with 50mm f1.8 lens to click this portrait, and in terms of lighting condition, I always prefer to shoot in natural light.

4. Tell us about the editing process?
I used Photoshop CC 2018 on PC to edit this portrait. Actually this is a long process of editing which is very difficult to describe in few words. But I can tell you that always I concentrate on the details in terms of portrait editing. According to my preference details of face texture, eyes and emotion should be the priority for any Street Portrait editing.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?
Actually I don’t want to be an artist, I always want to be a friend. I always try to make them comfortable, as a smily face is enough for me to describe myself as an Artist. Artist is just a word for me, I am always trying to be a good human being. As humanity is the first step to be an artist for me.

https://www.facebook.com/saurav.biswas13
https://www.instagram.com/manual_exposure/

1. Tell us a bit about the image?
A 50’s Paris style image on an old rail station

2. What inspired you to take the shot?
Only my imagination has led me to learn and make this shot

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?
Canon 5D MKII with Canon 85mm f1. 8 and remote flash Canon 600rt

4. Tell us about the editing process?
First, I want the image to be beautiful when shooting… Than for post-production retouching, I use photoshop

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?
I don’t feel like an artist, but only a person who loves to create stories through images

https://manuphotogrphy.weebly.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Manuela.Manu61/

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

This photo is from my  “Paint time” series, created as fine-art photography using my own “painterly effect” technique. This photo comes into its own when printed out on paper or canvas in size larger than 50 cm.

 2. What inspired you to take the shot?

Creating my Fine Art portraits is always inspired by Dutch old masters and Impressionism. And almost always the music helps me in my work.

 3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

Gears for me is not such important as model and composition. But anyway, I am taking photos with my Nikon D610 and one of my favourite lenses Nikkor 85mm or Nikkor 80-200mm. As lighting, I prefer to use one light (beauty dish) and silver reflectors.

 4. Tell us about the editing process?

For photo processing, I’m using Lightroom for RAW conversion and of course Photoshop for retouching and a few plugins for creating or adding some special effects. My idea is not to create something new like photo collage but work as much as possible on the photo taken during photo shooting.

 5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

I don’t think that this photo can reflect me as an artist completely. Most likely for me, this is just a sketch, another photo on which I can train my skills. Since I am still studying and at the moment – I haven’t reached the level of mastery to which I aspire.

www.baevfoto.com.ua

https://www.instagram.com/baevfoto
MUAH: @olgamos_
Costume: @sviderko_karnaval
Model: @odri_models

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

I and the dancer Aurora started talking on Facebook about doing some pictures together. We both wanted something that would be stunning now and again in 50 years when people see it. I love the flow, the lines and grace that is in ballet. I had wanted to do a ballet shoot since I started a little over 4 years ago. Aurora was working with the clothes designer Petra Gjørvad and Aurora sent me pictures so we could agree on what clothes we were going to use. And Aurora had already fixed a makeup artist so that was perfect… About the picture… I wanted to create something that was timeless and beautiful.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?

I started photography 4 years ago when I bought my Sony A6000 and ever since then I wanted to take pictures of a ballet dancer

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

The gear I used was my Sony A7riii and Zeiss 55mm F1.8. For the light, I used a 150 cm octa and a gridded strip box. Both were on godox ad600bm

4. Tell us about the editing process?

In the edit, I extended the background, and then I added texture on the background to give some more depth.

The lighting

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

The picture shows more of the way I want to take my photography. Meaning as I really want to create pictures that make people feel something.

My Facebook page is Facebook.com/fotografstefanborup.
Instagram.com/stefanborupphoto
Website: www.Stefanborup.com

Model: https://www.instagram.com/auroranossen/

MUA: https://www.instagram.com/linarmua/

Designer: https://www.instagram.com/petra_gjorvad/

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

Hmmm… I do not know what to say… Every photo I create is a unique artwork. At least to me. In this photo I wanted to show the beauty of a danseuse’s long legs in accordance with the straight lines in the photo.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?

I wanted to take a picture in an unusual environment for the dancer, but at the same time to show off the beautifully symmetrical, straight and graceful lines of the female dancer. In general, I have been inspired by the renaissance painters and modern advertising photography for my photos

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

The Canon 6D Mark II DSLR camera with the prime lens 24 mm was used in this particular shot. Parameters. ISO: 100, F8, Time: 1/160. Well, setting the lights was more difficult. At the top, I had an octabox with a diffuse tarpaulin (soft-box) and a light modifier with a Fomei Power Flash in the height of 4 meters. From the right side of the character-level, I had a softbox with Fomei Power Flash, and the same line-up was set from the left. These two flashes were used to better portray the character.

4. Tell us about the editing process?

The adjustments were simple, as the actual shot itself, and the light was set to my liking. I made all the adjustments in photoshop. Of course, I made some additional edits. I change a little brightness, contrast and played with the colour tonality of the photo. I removed the mess from the right window by simply copying and mirroring the left window to replace the right one. The last major adjustment consisted of a slightly dimmed the luminosity of the background. Also, the female-ballet dancer object was softly lightened.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

This is a very tough question. I like simple and clean photos. I like to work and experiment with the lights and shadows, but my artworks are dark-lighting style-oriented, as you already could notice. I also try to reflect on my work the ideas that are in my imagination. I love to create portraits creatively and unconventionally. Perhaps, the most appealing to me is, that I truly love taking portraits pictures with a wide focus lens, and actually almost everything else as well. In short, I am enthusiastic about working with the perspective.

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pandagraphys/

net: www.pandagraphy.sk

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pandagraphy.sk/

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

Mike Laverdure and I tend to shoot creative works like this piece in tandem. We called this portrait “femme elegant”. Our model Alaska was very patient with us, the bottom half of the “dress” was actually a curtain that we fastened to her dress with safety pins to give us the extra fabric we needed to create the beautiful flowing effect.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?

Our concept was partially inspired by a youtube video, using fabric to create an added element to the photo with angular lines. We ran with the concept and made it our own. I wanted more flow than angles, we achieved great shapes and angles with our model and used the dress to draw attention to our subject instead of distracting from our subject.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

This image was shot using the new Canon EOS R, 18-55mm kit lens, ISO100, f5.6, 1/200s. It was lit with Flashpoint eVOLV 200 R2 strobe in a deep parabolic softbox as the main light and an AlienBee 800 with reflector dish and a 30% Grid, gelled right behind the model onto the thunder grey seamless backdrop.

4. Tell us about the editing process?

The editing process was pretty fun. I used pieces of the fabric from several other shots to meld the dress together to create a beautiful flow. I colour matched the curtain fabric to the colour of the dress, then used the smudge and liquefy tools to blend the two pieces together to give the appearance of once long blue dress. The skin was retouched using frequency separation. I then colour graded the image.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

Mike and I have been slowly perfecting our crafts together, both feeding off each other and teaching each other. This piece is a very good representation of the ebb and flow Mike and I have established. Mike’s technical knowledge of lighting and my photo retouching/composite skills pair well together. Like fine wine and Gouda.

www.facebook.com/StudioJSpokane

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

This image is of my dear friend Lena, a talented contortionist and aerialist. Lena and I have worked together numerous times over the past few years, since the start of my professional photography journey and her contortion one, each of us growing and evolving in our skillsets with each shoot. Lena celebrated her 42nd birthday just a few months ago and, having begun her contortion training in her 30s, is an inspiration to many of us in the circus community. This image showcases the incredible breadth of ability the human body has with proper training, dedication and resilience. With each portrait taken during this shoot, Lena would set a flexibility goal for herself (i.e. pulling the back of her leg to head, or hair to tush), and each time she nailed it. This shot spanned the course of about 2-3 minutes (quite a long time to be in the pose), with Lena pulling her legs closer and closer to her head, little by little. This is the pinnacle of that incredibly difficult process.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?

This is a position we had in mind going into the shoot. I love the teardrop shape, and the profile angle creates quite an impact on the viewer.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

My camera is an Canon EOS R. My key light is a Paul C Buff strobe placed camera left, and a continuous fill light placed camera right.

4. Tell us about the editing process?

I used a variety of techniques in Camera Raw and Photoshop, some self-taught and many learned by the amazing Barbara Macferrin. They include incorporating textures and using the dodge and burn technique to name a couple. My goal with the gold color was to make the whole aesthetic appear soft and ethereal.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

I am an aerialist, and I specialize in fine art portraiture of circus artists in my community. For the subject, these shoots are incredibly challenging as they require an artist to hold uncomfortable or difficult positions for a prolonged period of time. My goal with each shoot is to find a moment in there where the artist is pushing themselves to the best of their ability while still maintaining a semblances of serenity. I want the photograph to appear as though the subject doesn’t even know I’m there. I think this piece showcases all of the above, while also signifying a new direction that I’m thrilled to explore further.

https://www.instagram.com/barbaramacferrin/

https://www.instagram.com/lena_fumi/

www.instagram.com/annaciconephotography

https://www.instagram.com/barbaramacferrin

1. Tell us a bit about the image?

This is a portrait of my daughter. I attempted to make the photo look like as if it were a painting, similar to the Old Masters.

2. What inspired you to take the shot?

I was inspired by Jan van Eyck’s famous self-portrait. I wanted to recreate this portrait in my own style using my daughter as the subject.

3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?

Canon 6D, Canon Macro 100/2.8. Single soft box in front of model and painted background.

4. Tell us about the editing process?

I edited the picture through Photoshop. I wanted to emphasize the shadows, so I made them a bit more prominent through editing. I used a brush over the picture to create the feeling of a painting.

5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?

This piece reflects me as I am always looking for new ideas to create with fine-art photography. As a father, I use my daughter as the subject for many photos. I find interest in capturing her varying emotions and strive to express myself through photography.

Check out his pages

https://www.instagram.com/alexander_sviridov_photoart/

https://www.facebook.com/alexander.sviridov.75