Shooting beauty
“Asian beauty” is a subset of one of my favourite genres – female beauty. In fact “female beauty” and “dogs on location” are probably the two types of photoshoot I enjoy most. I am deliberately eclectic!
I love shooting “asian beauty” because it allows me to create striking images using light and shadow. Plus the strong colours, elegant clothes and bling. All that bling! Sorry, I mean “jewellery” of course. The following is just my own personal opinion, but I think “gold bling” looks much better on darker skin than on caucasian skin. Other people may not agree of course.
“Lighting wizard”
Among my fellow photographers I have a reputation of being a “lighting wizard”. It is very flattering and particularly rewarding because it is my peers who are paying me this compliment.
When I shoot for beauty I design my lighting for each individual client and situation. You can’t just use the same lighting on all women – not if you want it to be flattering anyway!
The model in this photoshoot is naturally beautiful. She also has slim features and this gives the photographer more options for lighting than people who have broader features. The images here are just a small sample of what can be achieved. Please check out the rest of my website, this blog and my instagram page for more examples.
Creating the “asian beauty look”
The degree to which people should be retouched depends upon the purpose of the photo and personal taste. I like my photos to look flattering but remain realistic. I do my own retouching and I avoid making skin look “plastic” and unnatural. The model in these photos is young and blessed with very good skin. I did very little retouching.
Of course a professional make up artist can work wonders. The make up in these photos was done by Chesmi Rodrigo (see below). She is an extremely skillful and experienced make up artist and I have worked with her many times. It is astonishing how she can bring out the inherent beauty in our models and customers.
So make up and retouching are both used to “enhance” the beauty of the model. It is a special occasion after all!
BUT… a great deal of the impact of the images is created by the lighting. For example getting the light into the eyes. Creating flattering shadows – in the right places! Using light to separate the model from the background. And so on…
The creative team
Make up and hair by Chesmi Rodrigo. Chesmi also supplied some of the clothes and jewellery. I have worked with Chesmi on numerous photoshoots and I can highly recommend her. She has a beauty salon in Hounslow. You can check her out on instagram at Chesmi_london and Chesmibridal.
Booking a beauty photoshoot
My studio is in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. Visit this page to find out about booking a photoshoot. It can be a female beauty photoshoot, and asian beauty photoshoot, or any other kind of shoot I support. Or you can visit my contact page if you want to get in touch.
