Unmasking Harrie…

Harriett Langley – after Pris

Here’s a striking shot of Harriett Langley (previously unseen). Harrie is the quintessential redhead and a fantastic pro-model. She looks amazing wearing black lingerie and pearls.

She is wearing a mix of Venetian, Blade Runneresque, Mardi Gras make up. We had lots of fun with this.
Harrie is a machine when it comes to poses, expressions and looks.
I had to wade through over 80 shots to find this one. They are all really different. I’ll post some more as I have time to finish processing them. Glamour is not really my thing, however, I have been advised that this is quite racy. 😂

You can see more images of Harrie in her folio here

I hope you enjoy viewing the image – Colin

Pixel Peepers’ Notes & Newbie Hints & Tips:

Sony A7R II FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6OSS @58mm / 60th sec f5.0 ISO200

Once again, I shot this on a borrowed Sony A7R II. I think this may be my first or second shoot using the Sony Alpha system? By this time in my career, I had realised that my “manual focus” Hasselblad days were coming to an end, and I needed to convert to modern auto focus system. I didn’t have a scooby doo how to set up the camera. Up until this moment my 35mm system was my long cherished OM1n and OM2md. Effectively I rarely used my 135 system. I used either my Hasselblad system or my Sinar 5×4 system. I was totally new to the Sony menu and the Alpha system. Therefore, I Shot this in manual mode, as I was using studio flash anyway. It was all a bit of a blur (not the image!).

This is a shot on a kit lens, and serves as a good example of what can be achieved. I don’t know if this is a particularly good lens? I now use a FE24-70 2.8 GMaster which is tack sharp, but this looks sharp to me?

Here’s a screen grab at 1:1 – 100%

Newbies’ guide to the lighting set up and shooting the image:

There’s one large octabox lighting the face. In reality, it was even closer than in the diagram above, but the diagram software won’t let me place it closer. It was about 90cms (3ft) away. It is set slightly above the model’s face, and slightly to the left of the camera. (You can see this if you look in to the model’s eyes; There is shadow that the octabox is casting.) In front of the octabox is a is diffused Metz flash unit on a stand, with a doubled up handkerchief as a diffuser, held in place with a hair scrunchie . The Metz flash is set to minimum. All it’s doing is placing the keylights in Harrie’s eyes, and causing the hard reflections on her lips. I am firing off the flashes with manual slave radio flash units, the master is on the camera hot shoe. No messing with TTL.

Advice: Just fire off a few tests. You’ll have the exposure balanced in three or four frames. Once you’ve nailed it… Crack on.

The wind machine is quite close in, on the left, behind the octabox. There are 2x 8ft reflector boards, one on each side of the model. The model is kneeling on a white leather sofa.

The make up artist sprayed on the bandit/Pris mask with an air brush.

Retouching: I have retouched some of the edges of the sprayed mask, to fix where there was a little over spray. I have made the transition crisper. Other than that, WYSIWYG. There is no softening or adjustments to the skin, only make up. I have said it before, if you’ve never worked with an MUA, I really recommend it. There are loads of them worldwide, and if you are testing, they may work with you TFP (Time for Prints) or in other words, access to the finished digital files.

You can find good MUAs on:
https://www.purpleport.com and https://www.modelmayhem.com wherever you are in the world. Both have free memberships.

I think you’d really enjoy the experience of working in a creative team.

I hope you like the image and find this information useful.

Please feel free to comment, or feedback below – Colin