Amber Rhodes: Singer/Songwriter and Lovely Model

I mentioned on Thursday that I was busy and doing all sorts of things that were delaying my Equipment Review. Still promise that it will continue soon. But in the meantime I wanted to share my session with Amber Rhodes (www.AmberRhodes.com) in my studio. I don't know Amber's music, yet, but if she needs a break from the recording studio she can certainly work in the photography studio. Amber is a photographer's delight. Gushing with personality and a natural beauty with perfect skin, she simply took over her own session. She marched in with three outfits and a makeup kit, spent ten minutes getting ready in her first outfit while I did a lighting test with her guitarist, and then marched into the studio already laughing ... a quick wit and ready smile already in high gear.

One of the hallmarks of professional experienced models is that they require very little direction and have a huge range of facial expressions. Amber is every bit of that. She posed. She twirled. She bent, jumped, twisted, turned, plopped down. She gave the 'Girl Next Door' smile, the sultry look, the happy, the pouty, the come-hither. I got to shooting so fast that I popped a circuit breaker twice and got black images where the strobes hadn't recharged.

Amber is an American singer/songwriter out of Lexington, KY. She writes country, rock and pop. She is on the radar, so watch out for her.

Oh, some technical details: all images shot with Canon 1DsMIII and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. Lighting is two Bowens QUADX 3000 generators and five heads. Post processing consisted of LightRoom conversion with some resizing, levels, and color temperature. No retouching ... none ... not a spot removed or skin smoothed. Amber is a natural beauty.

You can see about 60 images in her gallery at my website at http://dwightmccann.com/Glamor/AmberRhodes05222008.html. Let me know what you think.

And once again, I promise to get back to my equipment review project soon.

Be Safe!

Dwight

Finally Firing Up the Studio: Glamor

Since my concert venue has been in remission for a couple of weeks (although I will be shooting Chris Rock tomorrow night) I have had time to get some final touches completed in my little studio, the most recent being replacing the sagging PVC supports for my drapes with metal pipes. That done, my wife has ever so graciously agreed to act as a temporary model so I can get a feel for going glamor so that's what I'm doing evenings for a few nights. When I have enough images to be interesting I will be doing a post on these sessions. It is surprisingly tricky to get clean, crisp images that are also glamorous and striking, but I think I am getting there.

I am also lining up a few gals from the neighborhood so that I have a few different faces to show. And when I feel I have gained some control over the studio I will be getting some gals in who could, and might become, models. I expect to doing posts of those sessions, too.

So, hang in there with me. Things are taking off.