Last week right before I zoomed off to Arizona for a week, I did a last minute model shoot with the delightful Colin Michael (www.colinmichaelphoto.com).

We'd chatted about spending our winter "down time" doing some model stuffs to hone our skillz, practice nifty lighting tricks, and get some playtime in.

Fun it was! Colin found the pretty ladies (pretty lady friends of his) and picked the spicy wardrobe, and I tagged along to do some natural light work while he played with his strobes. (No, I didn't watch, sheesh.) I'd love feedback on the split toning I've been working on - love/hate?

This was only the second time working with models (OSPW being the first, even though I was freaked out by shooting in a group like that), and it was quite fun! I recommend it - just keep yourself fresh, stretch your boundaries, experiment with things you might not do otherwise, and play play play.

Meet Tricia & Jessica:

1.


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4.


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6.


7.

Yo, Sarah
I guess I'm not a fan of the split-tone, since you asked, because my favorite is the colorful #4.
, me

Wow...these are amazing...I am not sure split works on all of them, but I think it adds to the mood on #1, #5, and #7. I LOVE #4...wow...

Some people have all the fun! awesome pictures (I'm neutral on the split tone....).

Hmmm, so far no big fans of the split tone... That's not good.

But since you seem to like #4

Here's a bonus similar shot:

LOVE IT!

Can you share some settings?

Sure!

(And you can see the settings if you download the file too, I believe.)

Overcast late afternoon light, no flash.

Canon 30D with 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens, manual

ISO 200
focal length 120mm
f/3.2 at 1/100th

Post processing is minor, and these are all in camera crops. No real changes to color or contrast beyond basic Lightroom default tone curve. Quite a bit of skin smoothing, as the model doesn't have perfect skin (who does?) and a tiny increase in brightness of the eyes to bring out her GORGEOUS eye color. That's it.

Took out the belly button jewelry in #6...

Love #1!!!!

I love #1 too! Amazing shot!! I love the colors on this one

Great stuff Sara!
With all that has been going on with Steph I haven't had time to edit but here are a couple that I liked.
I love how different we see the same thing

I actually am a fan of the split tone. It wouldn't be my favorite for portraits, but I think it has a very high fashion feel to it, and it communicates a different mood than the bright colors. Whether or not to use it depends on what you're trying to communicate with the image. Only you can decide that

Yes, this is haut and I love them both!

I agree- I think I like the split tone- it does give it that high fashion look- and the posing and angels you used are awesome- and where in the world did the model get that body- she is smoking and your images are rocking- together- it absolutely looks high fashion to me!

Thanks for sharing!

Yay! I was hoping Colin would post some of his tooooo We're a deliciously killer team cause we have such different styles!

Can you believe the first model (Tricia, with the dark eyes) has been told she needs to be less "hippy"?! The girl is TINY!

Colin, the girls are going to love these I sent em an email with a couple of mine, but I can't wait to get them all up so they can poke around and see the fruits of our labor.

yay!

And re the split toning, I do agree that it's not for everything, and not necessarily the normal, flattering, golden light we think of for beauty shots. But for fashion, for a bit more edgy look, I've been digging it.

Actually used it a bit on some wedding images recently too, and really liked the results:





Never want to overuse anything, tho! So I'm a-watching myself...

Love the split tone on these last 2 and thought it worked on the ones above, especially 7.


Here is one of her hips for the Abercrombie crowd...

Ooooh that's one's sassy!

They were fun More please!

these are fun you all-
it was great different seeing your two different styles with the same models-


Lisa

Awesome shots guys!

Sara I love #1 and #4 also. They are great. And I do like the split tone.
Colin I love the light that you have in the pictures that you posted. It makes them look golden.

Same for me. I do like the split tone but I wouldn't have added it to every shot (all abot personal preference though )

OH MY GOSH!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

i normally *dont* like split tone, but it really works on these images for me...very high fashion, very magazine editorial. love.





colin, yours are sooo different but so equally awesome! love the one light work you've got going on! how on earth did you convince your friends to go out in bikinis in this cold weather!!??

Sara, Colin... fantastic shots & stunning models. Sara, I like the split-toning & Colin, your lighting is great!

Sara- The more I look at your first image the more I like it, great use of those rocks! Where are all your funny outtakes?!


One light? Come on now! LOL
I am getting back to my roots and shooting with multiple lights and trying some new things. Hopefully it will all come back to influence my wedding work. I just ordered a big battery pack and a new set of strobes so I am really going to push my lighting even further. Now if I could just learn to get that instant connection with models like Sara does...

The first 3 all used 2 lights:
The first shot- one for rim light, the other as a soft fill
The second shot- one as a key with an umbrella from camera right, the other to fill in the shadow side)
The third shot- one as key to camera right, one as a "kicker" lighting her right arm and leg

The last one with both models used only one light to be more dramatic. I probably should have used 3 lights to control the shadows more but it was too cold to spend much time setting up!
How do I get them out in the cold wearing that? Hmm, they choose the outfits!

I love that it looks like she's at the top of some crazy mountain in that getup, when she's really on 2 foot tall rocks. What, you don't all go mountaineering in those?? But there wasn't much wiggling around up there in those heels, for fear of breaking my model.

And I really didn't have many funny outtakes, other than the odd blinky and the occasional giggle. But I like the laughing ones





And I need to pick up some lighting mojo from Colin! I'm confident with natural light but don't really have the toys to do much else yet....

One last one, just to see the hard job Colin had of working with two scantily clad beauties:

love the colors and feeling in #2 and #6

Nice work!

Exactly what I was thinking!!!

great work both of u!! cant wait to see u in a few weeks!

Just my opinion, but because I shoot editorial work, just want to give you some advice. If you are going to shoot models, have them loosen up a bit they are to stiff looking, also the one girl with the long hair is to large for modeling, in that world anything above a size2 is too big.

The images and light are great, nothing wrong with the shots, the styling is average. If you want to do this more and build a portfolio, pull clothes from Neimans and then return them, if you are not working with a professional, then you can use the stuff in your book.

Also, get inspired by other artists...www.dagmaraphotography.com I just did a shoot with her for Athropologie.

Again, just my opinion, but I definatley think you are on your way, just needs al little tweaking thats all!!

Thanks for your suggestions! For me, it's not for anything but play and practice. The girls are inexperienced (which seems to translate into very "posey" in my experience), and it was the first time I'd photographed a model as well, so it was rather the blind leading the blind. Fun though!

Jessica isn't interested in high fashion modeling, more Maxim style stuff honestly (thus the skimpy outfits, I imagine).

Fabulous link! I'm a fan of Eolo Perfido too... www.eoloperfido.com (Some slight nudity and dark work here, if you're not into that stuff)

cool, yes she would be good for Maxim...not sure though, I don't work in that area.

Great job for just poking around though;) You should dig into it a little more!