The San Francisco / West Coast's Clean Look

I never really believed in horoscope until in the recent year. I found that being Libra, I've been compelled all my life to do most things in moderation.

It's all about balance.

It applies to many things, post-processing, makeup, etc. When I started using photoshop over 10 years ago, the processing I would use it for are quite extreme. All my images are ultra colorful with crazy designs. Want proof? See image on right, shot and post-processed in 1995.

As I mature into the tool and into art, I learnt that being able to find a balance and tweak into the subtleties of what you do will determine the mastery of it. Call it "Refined taste", if you will.

This is also one of the biggest reasons why the classier local modeling agencies who are recruiting for photographers, makeup artists, stylist, etc. wants to see the ability of the artist to produce subtle pieces of art. In this case, clean beauty look.

Yes, these look like simple lighting, easy photoshop retouching, easy to do shots and makeup. Like most things in life, as you attain the jedi ability to mind control, whatever that appears easy can be deceiving. Remember the first time you watch an amazing ice skater sliding across thin ice. It looked easy. How about the first time you thought it was easy to wrestle or eat 50 hotdogs in an hour?

The shot on the left, for example, was lighted using a last minute contraption that utilizes a magnifying glass!!! I deviced and put it together in the middle of the shoot!! Not having a fresnel lens, the challenge was to ensure that the light beam pierces into the correct position without dispersing too much. It required an assistant (Thanks, Janice!) to hold and mobilize along with the light to ensure accurate light placement!

I do have to admit, it's a lot of fun to think on your feet, solve problems and be creative all at the same time.

- MS

Beauty Photography with a Beauty Dish

I've been desperately shopping for a new beauty dish (that comes with a better semi-opaque center) for a while now. You see, the beauty dish that I have been using for a while (made by Paul Buff = $120) has a opaque center that causes light to not pass through very well. So, the reflections from it looks like a donut. Ok, you must think I'm a madman to spend hundreds, just to show a non-donut shape light on the reflections of my models' eyes? Unfortunately, the laws of diminishing returns has caught up to me.

Granted, I can spare my wallet a lot of money to construct a round center that is semi opaque and slap it onto my beauty dish. But I guess time is money and hence, I don't have the time to do that type of construction. Plus, I'm lazy. Go figure.

My final excuse is that I'm slowly converting my gears to Profoto, it's a good idea to start swapping out the previous products. Ok, also, you can get a nice grid to go with this one. Which is fantastic. Just what I need, really. ;-)

I was looking intently at the 33" Euro Mola. They are really, really nice but are ultra big, heavy and it costs a lot of moolas. Maybe when I have more moolahs, I'll buy that mola.

In the middle of the shoot, Jade stopped by to pick up my still_wonderful_beauty_dish and got a bit disgusted with how I sell a perfectly good equipment and got a new one that look just about the same. Damn you, Jade. I still got your extra $3!!! Buahahaha!

I invited the whole football team to my residence for this shoot. Since a beauty shoot doesn't take that much space, I had everyone occupy my dining and kitchen area and have the shoot done in the living room. it was heckavu fun.

The usual suspects arrived, Janice and Mikel. We even have Van from Ocean Blue Videography of San Jose to help with with my idea of videotaping the shoot for a possible instructional video!

The gorgeous and amazing models are none other than Tiffany, Sharin, Brittany and Mary. Test my stamina, baby!

I used 5 lights for this shoot instead of my usual 1-2 lights. LOL. Some people think that more lights = better pictures. Is it true? No comment from me on this subject. So, let's move on.

Janice did makeup, Mikel did hair, I focused on the shoot. It was like a production line but we were just happily chatting along. It was casual, smooth and I had a blast.

I gotto tell ya. The models _really_ worked it. Tiffany got her hair in her eyes the whole time while Mikel had too much fun with the blower. Sharin's skin is omfg, flawless. Brittany pull amazing poses out of thin air while using a toothpick to keep her eyelids open due to the ultra heavy makeup. Mary, she shot with us more than we shot her! It's a complete teamwork that would not have worked if one of us are missing. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

For dinner, I got a large spinach artichoke, a large BBQ Chicken & a small sweet pig pizzas from BJ's Brewery for dinner and we're at it again non-stop till midnight.

We managed to stay alert enough to capture this shot of Mary looking disgusted at us while we prop her. Hahaha! I love it!!! Love it!!!!