A Legend at Legends
A couple weeks ago I got the privilege to photograph a very inspirational woman. She is a very accomplished 6th degree black belt in American Karate. She is the second highest ranking belt at the Dojo she trains, teaches and mentors. One of the most exceptional martial artists at Legends Martial Arts in Texas.
There is a aura of power radiating from these images. I absolutely love photographing anyone who shows passion in what they do. What made this shoot so awesome was the fact that, her being a 6th degree black belt, she had a broad knowledge of techniques she effortlessly flowed through as far a posing went. The guidance on my end was very minimal; where to look, which direction to perform technique, my composition.
I used a two light set up for this shoot, a back diffused rim light and a front left diffused main light. I am a sucker for contrasts and detail extraction. Although I can’t use that set up for every shoot. I decided to stick with the set up of the first promotional shoot 9 years ago. The only difference is that I wanted to soften the lights, to give a hint of glamour.
The retouching process first included removing the background. This can get lengthy especially if there is hair movement. My last few identical shoots for this, I used a black backdrop because it made selection easier. Since there was only one person for this shoot I was absolutely ok photographing in an open space as long as I got the lighting right on her. I felt very confident that I can accomplish the same look with all the tools I have, photographing her anywhere. This is a before and after of the progress. After I removed the background, there began a series of splitting the image frequency to pull more details from the skin, and fabrics.
Positioning her pose was tricky, I had to know that there will be glare in her glasses. I did not ask her to remove them because it would have felt like taking away a part of her. To prepare for this adjustment, I made sure that the glare did not covering up her entire iris. This allowed me to keep the integrity of her eye color and rebuild the surrounding eyeball.
Color correcting was another thing I learned to keep an eye on. Especially when an athlete is exerting energy, I expect that the skin will turn red or sweaty. Which look good with some shoots when its warranted, but not necessarily in this shoot. So clean skin was a must.
Overall this was a very successful day. It was a dear pleasure to meet a woman of her prestigious caliber. I see a powerful woman who gives back to the community in all the positive lights. Smart, levelheaded, and definitely not someone to mess with. ;) Im excited to see how she continues to flourish in her Martial Arts destiny, and establish herself as a Legend in the lives of everyone she meets.
