olli.pekonen

Fitness model Sanna N going through stages of "wetlook application".

First stage was in the studio with a spray bottle. Is there such a

thing as a "wetlook beauty shot"? Shot with Elinchrome large beauty

dish (up) and 100x100recta sb as fill (below). Portraiture of a

fitness/beauty pro. Any ideas?

One of many glam shots of fitness model Sanna. Not sure if such a

beauty shot is a "portrait". Professional wise, maybe it is. How do

you reckon?

Tried to achieve a color-rich orange glow with the highway sodium

lights in the background. Comments pls!

This was, frankly, a flash-did-not-fire kind of shot, but I like its Anton

Corjbin like murky dramatic look...

Wetlook photo of Linnea. Difficult context choke full of cliches and

cheap thrills. How to keep the model from falling prey of being

an "object" instead of composing her to being a "subject"? Your input

is welcomed!

On location shot of lovely Linnea. Tried very hard to isolate the ugly

background from the not-ugly model ;-)

beach shots of beautiful women are notoriously difficult if you want to avoid cliches and turning the model into a pure sex object. But this photo has got it made - it is fresh, alluring and the look of the lady's eyes is friendly and inviting, but not sugar coated. Some loose hair over they eyes is a bit of a negative. Good control of harsh beach light. good work overall!

oh by the way, pls click the photo larger.

Shot in low ambient light of the studio. Dunno why but the more I use

the studio, the more I want to shoot outside the well controlled lighting

of the softboxes, umbrellas and strobes and use whatever light comes

your way... like playing a solo instead of using composed notes. Of

course, it takes courage from the model, too... and with Linnea, it is

very hard to go completely wrong ;-)

thanks for your nice comments. Have you had much experience in shooting with fluorescent light tubes as main light source? I have nil. Just noticed that normal tubes flicker a lot, and their spectra is not natural at all.

Thanks for your feedback. The story of this picture is that we shot for 2-3 hours in a typical studio setting... and then I realized that the makeup mirror of the studio can be used as a weird lighting setup (two fluorescent tubes, vertical). Llinnea is a super pro model and adjusted for the new lighting in no time. And here we are...

A great portrait with a very innovative (and charming) position of hands. The skin smoothening is a tad too strong for my taste but the dreamy complexion adds to the charm in  a way. good work

Minna N on location. One umbrella and one reflector with a dash of

ambient light. How do you find it?

Tore: this was done late July when the heatwave of 2010 had not yet hit the Nordic region. So the model did a fab job of looking like a tropical lizard in +13C ;-)

the lighting was done very opportunistically - the model was sitting on a low concrete fence and I bounced 550EX from the nearby ceiling. There is a ventilation shaft above her, and a large opening in the concerte ceiling right of her. So no reflectors as such were used. With 85/1.2, you can scavenge light in the most incredible places...

uh huh, this photo has great dynamics and color harmony. the spidery pose reminds me of Jonas Lundqvist photos (a famous Finnish photographer, ex ballet dancer: http://www.wweek.com/photos/3516/large/12244.jpg)

Beach scene shot of Riina. Tried to achieve a lizard like feeling... Brave

model - the weather is not exactly tropical...

On the eye focus: yes, you are right... it is just essential to do that as I work with wide apertures and these kind of portraits are worthless if the eyes are out of focus. I find I achieve a sought after dreamy feeling with this narrow depth of field.

Thanks for your input, it is truly heart warming.  This is a true "organic" portrait as it was took in an ambient light in an "Earthly paradise" of a car park hall. Goes to show that you do not need coral beaches and 30C+ to get good ambient, on-location shots... but of course those features would help ;-)

the interplay between the chair (the black nails) and the model is great.  Good relaxed pose, yet the eyes of the model are almost piercing and seem to see through the one watching.