Guestblog Achim Meurer Part II

Today part II of the Achim Meurer guestblog.

Minimalist Equipment – always on location
I like it simple. I like the idea of getting the best out of a location and it‘s conditions. It is maybe not always the easiest way, but for me always a challenge!

Like the shooting I did last winter. It was a very cold day and we wanted to have a frosty portrait. So I decided to search for a real frosty location and found a place in front of a frozen waterfall.

some fun at the end of the fotoshooting

For that session I didn‘t use any extra equipment, just my camera and the model Sandy (which was at that time my make-up artist).

Observe, discover & focus
Again, these are the first steps when I start. So I recognized that Sandy has incredibly beautiful blue eyes. So I wanted a high-key picture where the eyes are the centre of interest. So we chose a white jacket, white make up and that frozen waterfall which supports the colour of the eyes. It was slightly cloudy so perfect for the photo-shoot. Of course I had to do some retouching, but by looking at the RAW image there was no doubt, that this will be a great one.

The Raw image

As you can see, I had to do some retouching and adjustments. Especially the skin colour, softness and brightness. Therefore I used Photoshop and the plug-in from Imagenomic Portraiture. This plug-in makes a wonderful job. It softens the skin in a very natural way and you have a very good control over it. For that frosty Sandy I chose a strong softening, because I wanted to have this high-key look. As I wrote before, the manipulation is always a matter of what you want to achieve.

the final edit

Working with amateurs
This is always challenging, because you never know, if it will work or not. But up till now, it always has. But if I work with amateurs, I always give only a few instructions and let them do whatever they want to do. Most people are more relaxed then and I have more chances to discover the person, to find the essence, the soul. That sounds a bit esoteric, it is not. I just let them be themselves.

If you would like to see more, just visit my website/blog or contact me. You will find every contact possibility in my Google profile: https://plus.google.com/104031711741397610185/about