Andrew's Photography & Pearls

[Andrew M]

Ugh... this is going to drive me nuts...

Let's try this

 

[BWeaves]

Gorgeous!!! Thanks.

 

[CricketBug]

The lighting, the lighting! Excellent—and the models (and pearls!) are also so lovely.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Beautiful friends are a treasure to behold.

 

[Parrot Lady]

She's a beautiful girl (as are the pearls) and the lighting is great, but I have to say that I'm not crazy about the pose because it gives her body very awkward proportions.

 

[Andrew M]

She's a beautiful girl (as are the pearls) and the lighting is great, but I have to say that I'm not crazy about the pose because it gives her body very awkward proportions.

Not really sure what you mean by this, because nothing seems especially disproportionate (to me, at least). Jaden is almost 5'10" and lots of "leg," anyway - crossed legs also tend to make legs look shorter and not longer, which I assume is what you're referencing.

In any case, thank you for the comments.

Thanks Cricketbug, too, and JP I definitely agree.

 

[pattye]

I can make up a short story, inspired by this photo, Andrew!

 

[Andrew M]

How fun, Pattye! I think it's always cool when any image invokes a story.

Now that I know how to reliably get the full size upload, here's another of Jaden. Ari will make a stop again tomorrow.

 

[Charlotta]

You take the most beautiful photos AndrewM.

 

[Andrew M]

Thank you, Charlotta! Much appreciated.

Here's Ari again, with a strand of natural white Hanadama pearls. This one has a slight shift of artistic feel than the others. I'm not one who hugely leans to black and white images, but every once in awhile I'll find one I really love in it...

 

[pattye]

My eye is drawn right away to the pearl strand in this photo! An interesting variation, Andrew.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Beautiful photos. As gorgeous as the young lady is, the pearls still stand out.

 

[86Corvettegirl]

Such beautiful pictures!!!

 

[Andrew M]

Thanks, all! I really appreciate both the kind comments and the critique/suggestion

Here's a fun one from the shoot for PP that didn't quite make the final cut, because it looked a little more awkward, but I loved it for how bright it makes the Hanadama shine look

Funnily enough, the reflection was just on regular poster card - nothing special like acrylic, but you can still see the shape in the "table!"

 

[BWeaves]

The pearls glow in every photo. In the B&W photo, my eyes are drawn right to the pearls.

 

[Purranha]

Andrew question - is there a way to achieve the same lighting and look without the circular lighting? The pearl is so clearly reflective that I find the circular lighting reflection to take up a chunk of real estate on the pearl surface, and a liiiiiiittle distracting as I feel like there are little eyeballs and cyclops waving hi at me lololol. I love a lot of things about all the picture set-ups, but have slight preferences for the versions without the little circle reflections!

 

[CathyKeshi]

I love ALL the spectacular photos Andrew! I find I agree with Purranha about the little circle cyclops eyeballs ... Take with the appropriate grains of salt, coming from one who can't seem to take a single decent photo of my new GSS strand, sigh ...

 

[Andrew M]

To answer the question about the circular reflection -- yes, possible. Basically, in an ideal studio with a TON of space what I would really want is a lot of specular lights firing almost straight above - this would give hard points of light around in different spots on the pearl.

Since I don't have that amount of space, I tried the circular type parabolic as what I figured would be the best replica of it- unfortunately I was more cramped for space than I really wanted to be. Farther back, that reflector does just fine -- all the photos of Jaden on this thread were done with the same reflector, just farther away, and that shows up on the pearls more "normally."

Also, I knew PP doesn't own one of those parabolics (pretty sure), so thought I'd try something different.

Speaking of Jaden, here's another I just finished from the same set:

 

[Parrot Lady]

Beautiful! Look how sharp those pearls are, even compared to the crystal earrings and pailettes on the dress.

 

[BWeaves]

Haha, I didn't even notice the earrings. My eyes went straight to the pearls.