Photoset - Black and white portraits with Tayla (Patreon)

Last time Tayla came to shoot, we didn't have much of a plan. But for shoots with a models who I know as well as I know Tayla, this is rarely something that bothers me. What I did know was that I wanted to do more portraits with her in black and white, but with a softer lighting set up that I normally use for my b&w work. For this, I would normally use my octabox on a boom, so it is placed above and slightly in front of the model, slightly to camera left (less by design and more by necessity because of my shooting space). For this set I wanted to use my 1.3 m parabolic umbrella.

Tayla has a face that never fails to draw me incompletely when we are shooting. She has studied acting, and is one of the few models I shoot with who can give me a range of emotions through a set, sometimes just by a change in the tilt of her head and a widening of her eyes, or similar.

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a room full of outfit items here at home. Vinted and I have become close friends over the past two years, much to the despair of my wife! However, for these portraits half of the items ended up coming out of my own wardrobe! The v-neck grey jumper I used to wear to work; the hoodie is over sized on me and often only comes out when I have a long flight (it's comfy and I can sleep under the hood);  the roll-neck I've ha the years and was used in a location shoot back in 2019; and the cricket jumper I picked up from a charity shop many years ago. None of them look as good on me as they do on Tayla!

I feel a little self-conscious about some of the images in this set, as I worry I may have overedited a few of them. A model friend sat and looked through them with me last Monday, and she thinks I am imagining it. I am not so sure still. Tayla had had a breakout just before the shoot, and I feel I have lost some of the skin texture in some of the shots. I may re-edit some if I have have a spare moment, especially as I have recently tinkered with my work flow and specifically how I retouch skin.

I am off away for two weeks starting today, so may not be able to answer messages, etc. I will schedule a post or two to go live over the time though, so I hope you enjoy them.