Sunday, 1 September 2013

Desiree's Tribal Tribute

Now that my schedule has eased up a little, I'm finally getting chance to catch up on the backlog of the summer shoots.  This shoot with Desiree was shot back in mid July.  We had originally planned to shoot this concept back in March and April but had to cancel about 5 times due to bad weather or someone on the team feeling unwell.   In the end we put it off until the summer and hoped for better weather.  Which we got, it was as hot as hell.

The concept was Desiree's, she had several outfits that she wanted to shoot that were African inspired and she wanted to shoot it in the woods at Southland.   I'd never shot in southlands and knew it was going to be a quite challenge to try to balance the contrast between the really dark shadows and the strong rays of sunlight that come through the gaps in the canopy above.

The rays of light turned out to be more of a problem than I expected.  It was still early in the day and the sun was still rising which meant that the rays of light were constantly shifting.  We would find a spot to shoot and set up with the light was nicely rimming Desiree.  Then by the time we'd balanced the flash with the ambient light, and taken a couple of test shots, the rays of light had moved and we had to reposition either my shooting angle, desirees position and sometime go and find a new location.

Christopher Vee was the make up artist for this shoot (and the next 4 shoots that I still have to edit).  Christopher loves using bold colours with high impact and this concept was perfect for his style as it was exactly what the look required.     Thanks also for Todd Martin for assisting with the lighting.

Technical Info

Canon 5d mk iii
24-105 and 70-200
Einstein 640 with Beauty Dish


ISO 400, 1/60sec, F4, 45mm

ISO 400, 1/60sec, F4, 45mm

ISO 100, 1/400 sec, F2.8, 75mm

 ISO 100, 1/400 sec, F2.8, 70mm

ISO 100, 1/400 sec, F2.8 (+ 2 stop ND filter and 1 stop CP), 75mm



ISO 500, 1/200, F2.8, 70mm

ISO 500, 1/200, F2.8, 70mm

ISO 500, 1/200, F2.8, 70mm

Tags:  firetog; blog; Mike Jones; Bermuda; photography; photographer; photo; shoot; model; editorial; fashion; couture; avant garde; fashion show; beauty; portraits; swimwear; swimsuit; bikini; glamour; boudoir; artistic; nude; photoshop; editing; retouching; studio; lighting; Canon; Paul Buff; Einstein; pocket wizard; beauty dish; vagabond;


  1. Your Best shoot of this year in my opinion. Done Well.

  2. How breathtaking...lovely shoot!!

  3. well done Mike really enjoyed looking at these ones

  4. Very nice! Each contributor shows off their talent!

  5. wow... desi + hair + makeup + mike = magiccccccccc. kudoes to all!


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