Gabriella Howson: That Leggy Bird

My first subject since the upgrade to my beloved 7D, Gabby, was back again. This time for a studio shoot.

She got to Farnborough at 11am and we had our first cup of tea, unzipped the suitcase of womanly wonder and caught up a bit. She told me about all the bits and bobs that she had brought to wear including all the new holiday clothes, her 'Sienna Miller' dress and also, my favourite: ‘The Disappointment Hat’.

I have to explain the disappointment hat now that I have mentioned it’s name so that you know why it is disappointing: Gabby and Dom (brother) went to London Fashion week one year and Gabby found this really neat hat and belt, which she was dead chuffed with… at first… but then (the cheeky git) Dom ends up finding various amazing pieces including a really nice jacket, and I think a suit? and some other bits, leaving Gabby feeling a little disappointed with her items (or lack thereof) come home-time. Hence this becoming ‘The Disappointment Hat’.

Well, OK fine, I guess you had to be there.

So moving on (tough crowd…) O_O

We started out ‘Simples’ as is the norm. A bit of warming up. Howson got her green cardigan on and we did a couple of headshots. Literally a couple. Then we ended up chatting for about 2-3 hours drinking approximately… 120 cups of tea? Approximately.

Then we decided to change outfit. The cardigan was nice and all, but a bit boring, which Gabby is not.

Light green. Bracelet, top and necklace. Holiday wear to be precise:

What a face! So beautiful!

(I really am quite lucky in that I have so many beautiful friends really.
It sure helps with a profession like photography!)

Lovely. And looking a bit like Lena Headey again in that last one!

Our 121st cup of tea:

We went for an elegant black outfit, again on black and Gabby was looking amazing as per. She scrubs up lovely for a posh bird (as Bill Bailey would say).

OK, then we had the snazzy looking cardigan. Wicked colours for a good start on the white:

In which Gabby started pulling her Lena Headey face again.

Seriously, do you not think so!? Sometimes, she really does look like her. Or Lena Headey looks like Gabby. More than likely. I knew Gabby before I saw Lena.

I'll just have to dress her up as Cersei Lannister and then you'll see. Oh yes. You'll see...

OK. NEXT! Look at this dress:

I ♥ this dress SO much.

It's all officey, heavy material and grey (though I like grey) but then the cut is just fantastic. WANT!

And Gabby in this dress is just… well…

Thanks Wayne. That's exactly what I was getting at.

Party on.

So, While we're on dresses, we got through a couple of those too.

There was the colourful, patterned one with the hat:

There was the 'very expensive oneo (don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it...)

Cute as hell.

Then we had the extremely colourful holiday dress. Which I also love:

She looks so catalogue in that one. :D

Backlit, for a lovely headshot. Mwah.

Close up.

And then more of an artistic Beauty shot. :)

Finally, as is seemingly becoming tradition on my shoots (I swear that this is not mandatory!), we had a little bit of partial nudity...

And the last in a 300 style colouring... for no particular reason...

<_<

>_>

Well folks, that's a wrap for that shoot though keep your eyes open as one, you might fall down the stairs otherwise and two, our stunning, 6ft tall, leggy IT/LARP geek goddess may well be coming back to see yours truly in January/February for another round.

*ding ding*

Wicked.

Kiera Gould: Less Angus, More Kiera

Ok, so following on from my previous post...

Kiera (killing soon in a town near you) came for a longer studio shoot on Saturday 22nd October.


We'd planned to work with each other again once I had obtained my own studio kit, which of course I have.

Kiera turned up with lots of bits and bobs to use, such as some really nice maroon velvet drapes, peacock feathers, most cleverly obtained for a shocking price of 15 'bob' by Bill (Billiam) Thomas.

We started out soft and simple and got a range of beautiful, yet natural, Kieraful headshots such as this:

And this (Ooh! Peacock Feathers!? Thanks Bill!):

And these!:

These last two achieved using a very bright but softened backlight, and a soft main light.

Next up we went for a rocky look. Kiera donned some very pink eyeshadow and we accessorised the bejesus out of her using all the chains, gloves, netted clothing and cuffs, etc, that I could find in the time it took her to get made up. Kiera's hair was sprayed forward into a stylish, yet relaxed quiff and off we went.

I like this one. It's not a typical composition but I like it anyway. So 'ner, ner'. :p

I am aware that these two are incredibly similar but I am yet to decide on my favourite of the two...

... I think it's that right one.

...Maybe.

Anyway, moving on. Next we stuck up a maroon velvet backdrop (as provided by Kiera) and got into a classy ladylike outfit. The top being a really lovely pink corset top that I had failed to take a good picture of when I was first starting out in my very early photography testing days. Every picture blurry, damn it! But I have since learned a lot about shutter speed. *pat pat* Well done Chloe.

Besides, I got another go at it. :D

Right, next I wanted to have a go with a blue gel filter. Kiera changed into a pair of teeny tiny shorts and wrapped her front with a teeny tiny piece of grey fabric.

So Robin, you'll be pleased to know, your sister was not completely naked. Sorry to everyone else for that information. I did try really hard.

I struggled around a bit with this next one having never used a gel filter before. I seemed to think when setting this up that I wanted the blue light to hit Kiera's face. Whilst I fumbled around with this for a bit trying it at different angles, and with the other light on and off, and facing the other light away but pinging it back with a reflector, and facing the same way as the filtered light, etc etc (seriously, everything but!) I eventually brought the blue light up from the back and had the main light hitting Kiera from the front.

And it looked SO much better and less like I'd turned Kiera into a Smurf.

Tempted to Photoshop Kiera as a smurf anyway for comic effect... hmm... I'd probably die horribly. Will try that on a less deadly subject some other time. *notes down*

Right then. Last set. I loved it.

Like with Marlyn's corsetted shoot, I switched to the Tungsten setting for my white balance and we just got so many awesome shots!

So, lucky you! You get to look at a few of these. :D

That cheekbone is a killer. :o

 

This outfit in fact was so awesome, I wore it that night to Martin's halloween work do'. I hitched the front of the skirt right up and put on some fishnet stockings & suspenders, some fake blood and pasty white make-up and went as a bride of Count Dracula. One! Two! Ah ah ahhh!!!

Speaking of which, I 'forgot' to give that outfit back...

Moving swiftly on... Kiera's coming for some extreme beauty shots* next time, possibly in January? So watch this space.

* Extreme beauty shots are unfortunately not beauty shots taken whilst doing something extreme, such as bungee jumping, hang-gliding, parachuting, etc but it's certainly worth thinking about and Kiera's certainly the girl for the job...