Lillian's Surprise

Its been about 3 years since I've shot with Lillian.  That was back when she was still an amateur and still learning how to model.  Since then she's been working as a full time model in New York and is currently signed with Trump Models.   She was back on the island for a family visit and we managed to fit in a last minute shoot the day before she left.  Lillian had provided me with some inspiration images that were fairly commercial in nature and quite casual looks.



I suggested we shoot at Coopers island as there were a couple of locations there that fit the inspirations that she was looking for and she came with a large bag of clothes so we could pick and choose some suitable looks.

A big Thank You goes to Christopher Vee who did the make up and came to the shoot of touch ups and also to Susan Thomas who was my lighting assistant for the day.

From the very first test shot I could tell this wasn't the same Lillian that I had shot 3 year ago.   Lillian's presence and confidence in front of the camera was amazing.  I dont shoot professional models very often but have had the opportunity to shoot with some pretty decent ones on workshops  but none have been as good as Lillian.  I really wish other local models could have seen the way that she worked in front of the camera, how with just the slightest movement of her head or limb gave a completely new and interesting image.  Pose after pose was elegant, different and creative.  No direction was needed, there was a new pose as soon and the shutter had clicked.   Pose Click, Pose Click, Pose Click etc.   There wasn't a single image in the four sets that I couldn't have used.  Hopefully one day Lillian can return and put on a modeling workshop.   Coh (Evolution) if you are reading this, please bring Lillian down to head the 2014 show.

As for the lighting got lucky and nailed that too.  The very first test shot, pre light calibration, actually made it into the top 50 short listed images.  Ok that was a fluke, but Lillian still gave an amazing pose even though it was only a test shot.  I used a couple of different lighting setups.  The first set was a 2 light set up with the sun to camera right (behind the tree)  I had the beauty dish to camera left and a bare strobe (with just an 8" reflector) behind Lillian.  The rim lighting on her nose, arm, and across her chest is from the back strobe (faking the sun).  You can see the actual direction of the sun if you study the light falling on the tree branches.
The second set of images was backlit and I used a beauty dish, (my default set up) however, there are two styles of images as the sun was occasionally going behind the clouds, so there are shots in shade and shots in full sun too.   The third set is the beauty dish again angled down from a high angle and the final set I believe might be natural light only or there may be some fill from the beauty dish.  (I cant remember, it was 6 weeks ago)

Needless to say I totally loved this shoot, I cant think of another shoot that has ever gone so well in terms of the number of keepers (good images).    And of course shooting with Lillian was such a pleasure,  I just hope we can do it again, soon.

Photographer: Mike  Jones
Model:  Lillian Lightbourn
MUA: Christopher Vee
Assistant:  Susan Thomas

Technical Info:
Canon 5D mk iii
24-105 70-200
Einstein 640 x 2 (w' Beauty Dish)

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 1/125 f9 70mm

  1/125 f9 70mm

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 1/250 F5.0 70mm

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 1/250 F5.0 70mm 

1/250 F5.0 70mm

 1/125, F6.3, 24mm cropped

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1/500 F6.3, 70mm

 1/320 f6.3 175mm

 1/400 f6.3 123mm (cropped)

 1/400 f6.3 123mm (cropped)

1/400 F6.3 142mm  (cropped)

1/400 F6.3 100mm  (cropped)

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