Photographer/retoucher: Asia Asberry
Model: aSIA aSBERRY
Session date: October 29, 2020, November 11, 2020
- Tools -
Body: Canon 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon 24-70mm 2.8 II
Lighting: Godox SK400 II
Light modifier(s): Godox 47” Octabox (with diffuser and grid), Insignia 32” reflector
Backdrop: Savage Universal seamless paper in Marmalade and blue mist
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom
IDEATION
“Seasons” is a self-portrait project that came to me at the very beginning of 2020. The project is inspired by a series of events that left my confidence feeling unsteady. Sometimes I was warm with lots of motivation and unshakable self-esteem and sometimes I allowed myself to fall into a period of feeling cold and hopeless. When I thought of the idea, I bought everything I needed to execute the photoshoot but never actually put it into action - again feeling unsure of myself and unmotivated to even attempt.
After moving into a new place of my own with nothing but space and time (thanks coronavirus), I decided that enough was enough, and that I really wanted to test myself to see if I could bring my vision to life. I began by sketching out two rough concept sketches just to get a visual in my head.
I knew that for each look, I wanted to embody the true essence of what both summer and winter have to offer: hot and cold, fire and ice. For my summer look, I couldn’t get the idea of orange and red glowing skin out of my mind. I knew I wanted to, essentially, be the sun. To be the sun, I needed big hair. I needed a warm and “wild” look but with a more relaxed, carefree pose.
For the winter look, I wanted to make the viewer feel frigid. I had to give off an air of cold superiority. Like an unrelenting ice queen. This meant very tight and precise hair, icy makeup, and a rigid expression on my face that said, “no mercy whatsoever”.
PROCESS
I decided I wanted to shoot my summer look first. I set up my seamless paper in the color “Marmalade” the night before I planned to shoot and made sure my light was working as planned.
For both the summer and winter looks, I placed my light source off-center to my left since there are two large windows that provided natural light in my living room on the right. I noticed that despite having two large windows on my right, there were still some unflattering shadows appearing on my face. I filled these in by holding the reflector underneath the right side of my chest as I posed to bounce more light from the strobe onto my face.
RETOUCHING
As I mentioned in the “Bubblegum” case study, my favorite method of skin retouching is to use dodge and burn on Photoshop so that is what I knew I was going to use for these photos. In addition, my current favorite method of color-grading is to use luminosity masks on Photoshop, so again, I used those too.
I started with summer first and had gotten gotten pretty satisfied with it - or so I thought. I didn’t want to go overboard and make my concept seem contrived so I started with a very natural look. However, the more I looked at it, the more it seemed plain. It didn’t have the glowing warmth I envisioned in my head. It was nice but it wasn’t there yet.
I decided I didn’t want to use Photoshop anymore as I just wanted to experiment with warming the image up and didn’t need all of Photoshop’s functionality. I imported the image into Lightroom just to play around and ended up creating what is now the final product. Using split toning and adjustment brushes, I was able to capture the orange/red glow I was going for.
The retouching process for the winter look was surprisingly uneventful. Everything went according to plan and I came out with the image I wanted on the first try using the Photoshop processes mentioned above.
Final thoughts
I am completely satisfied with how this concept came out. I’m glad I didn’t let doubt stop me from pushing this year-old idea forward. Even though I stay true to creating from the heart and not for the attention of social media, it did feel good that this project was extremely well-received by my friends, family, and other followers. I have considered expanding this project into spring and fall, but as of right now, I do not have plans to bring those to life just yet.