Dominique “Dom” Photo Shoot

This photo shoot was probably the funnest i’ve done all year. Dominique is a really photogenic human and was super eager to be photographed.

We chose the perfect day, time and setting too, so we were off to a great start. Armed with a few outfits, we began to warm up with a few photos along a green wall. I explained to her how the shoot usually goes, what things to look out for during posing and what I mean when I ask her to move or turn a certain way. For example, if I say “turn left”, is it my left of her left. PRO TIP: it’s always the models left.

It’s safe to say that she was a natural. Even as I set up the flash, she was posing incredibly well. I took a few photos with and without flash to show her the difference, but honestly, because if the time of day, both came out look amazing. We were in a shaded area and the 35mm lens renders images with such beautiful colors and tones that it seemed impossible not to get a good shots.

We moved to another location and we began to get some more full body shots. Still with the 35mm, I wanted to capture more of the environment. The area’s were pretty empty, so we could shoot in almost any direction we wanted without fear of getting any randoms in the background.

We found a table and decided to take some portraits on it. Her shirt, skin-tone and hair matched the ambience perfectly. This is where we took the most photos. The flash was making her eyes pop and gave perfect contrast to her and everything else.

I showed her the images and she was blown away. With a bit of hesitation, we reluctantly decided to move to the next location. We tried to get her on some rails along the steps, but she was too short and it just didn’t look good.

After she threw on her jacket, we took some really cool shots. She felt really confident on this one and it shows through the photos. Walking and posing was a lot different than the previous shots. With that built up confidence, he just flowed with a new sense of power. It was fun to capture this.

I hadn’t used the 85mm yet and since it’s my favorite lens, I had to use it. I only took a few photos before I realized that it wasn’t really going with the style we were shooting. It was too much of a close-up with that lens. So I switched back to the 35mm.

At this point she changed her outfit.

Since she was wearing pants now, we could shoot stuff a little differently. We shot at some steps and she did some really dominant poses. She was feeling strong, confident, and powerful.

By now the sun had almost dropped completely so we had to look for a nicer location.

We found somewhere that had some cool lights and we set up there. I dropped the flash to the lowest power and increased my ISO to 1,000. Images still came out sharp with little noise.

These photos were super cool and unique too. We both loved how the colors were affecting the whole scene and how she was still being exposed with my flash. They had a completely different feel than the previous photos we had taken.

It got cold and late so we called it quits. After all the cool spots, poses and the various lighting scenes during this shoot, I was super excited to look through the photos and start editing them.